PROLOGUE
Through the cockpit viewscreen, Earth appeared as beautiful as ever and like always, Captain Kelly Winterfield marveled at it. He had been docked at the International Space Station for four hours and now, sitting in the dim pilot’s cabin of The Legacy II, he prepared for departure.
The station controller’s voice crackled over the comm. “Legacy Two, you’re good for auto and cleared for undocking.”
“Legacy Two copies clearance on full guidance,” Kelly responded.
The ship lurched as the powerful arms holding it in place disengaged. Manipulating the controls with experienced nudges this way and that, Kelly turned the freighter a full one hundred and eighty degrees until the view of the planet was replaced by the white shell of the sprawling space complex.
The International Space Station was an old one, the very first as a matter of fact. Unlike its newer counterparts, it was the only station in the galaxy with this design. Made up of a patchwork of hundreds of years of additions, cylindrical arms, over ten miles long, extended horizontally from its bustling core and harbored thousands of ships of varying sizes, linking them to its interior by way of retractable bridges.
The Legacy II drifted away from the wharf-like structure and ten minutes later, when the computer indicated that they were safely beyond the outer edges of Earth’s junk rings, Kelly took full control of his ship and ignited its thrusters.
Seven minutes later, the Legacy II came out of Hyper Light and the coppery-colored planet, Venus, came into view. His destination was a Military facility, five hundred feet above the base of Mount Danu. In all his time delivering for Earthfront, he had never been to this port, had never even heard of it. Whatever the cargo in his hold was, it must have been something really big because only very high-level clearance could get him surface-side on Venus. According to his agent, all he needed to do was pick up the shipment, deliver it, don’t ask questions, make no inspections and not stick his nose into it. Whatever it was, he had an uneasy feeling about the whole deal and just wanted to get there, drop the shipment and get Earth-side in time to catch a shuttle home. Today was his daughter’s birthday. She was, in her own words, officially ten and he knew she would never let it go if he missed her big celebration.
Do you really have to go out this time?
His wife had tried to convince him to stay, but this job was important and the credits it would earn him would set them good. His daughter would have a better future and he and Laura would finally be able to go on that honeymoon vacation they always wanted. After all, a Light-Class Space Trucker made barely enough credits to cover the cost of living on Earth, but this time they would be able to make the move to Pluto or Charon. Life on the Border Worlds was easily affordable and less stressful than planetary hubs in the mid-system. His trucking business would flourish out there too. Haulers were always in high demand on the outer edges of Sol.
The cockpit beeped three times, alerting him of his proximity to atmospheric entry.
Venus and Mercury, unlike Mars, Jupiter’s moons, Saturn and Neptune’s moons and Pluto and Charon, were nothing more than mining planets. The space stations orbiting Venus numbered only two but Kelly would not be docking in space on this trip. His hauler was one of a few types of interstellar Light-Classers that could make the transition from space to atmosphere and back.
At twenty thousand kilometers from entry, The Legacy II slowed rapidly, covering the remaining distance in twenty minutes before burning through atmosphere. As the ship transitioned into Venusian airspace, Kelly found, though nothing like Earth, that there was a unique beauty about this hostile world.
Sulfuric clouds, twenty kilometers thick, spread planet wide below him and lightning lit up the vast blanket in periodic displays of spectacular bursts. A few miles away and even as far as the horizon, Massive barges hung miles above the surface, transporting precious ore to waiting cargo ships in vacuum. But they soon disappeared as the acidic cloud cover enveloped his ship, blotting out the bright yellow sky above. The cockpit shook with turbulent winds and bucked its way through the density of the mid atmospheric storm.
Beneath the perpetual cover, life on this planet existed in near darkness by day and utter blackness by night. As Kelly broke free of the haze after what seemed like ages, the ship’s external lights automatically activated, illuminating massive wisps of sulfuric acid, drifting lazily along their paths. At twenty thousand feet above ground level, the lights of the mountain base finally came into view and the communications module crackled to life.
“Legacy Two, this is Outpost Three Command. Give link up and pilot ident, over.”
“Captain Kelly Winterfield of Legacy Two, Venus bound from Earth.” He read the identification codes on his thigh board and waited for confirmation.
“Welcome to Venus Captain.”
The Legacy vibrated as the outpost’s tracking system took control of it, directing the hauler to a docking bay built into the side of the mountain.
The first thing Kelly noticed, as his ship glided smoothly toward the hangar, was the grunge that had built up along the outer walls of the base. Eversteel would not be corroded by sulfuric acid, but grimy deposits collected over time gave it a disgusting appearance and covered it like a mossy shell.
The winds had also picked up. Fifty five miles per hour to be exact but the base’s auto guidance system kept the ride stable and when he finally entered the complex, the shaking of the cockpit ceased.
********
Fifty minutes later, Kelly stretched his cramped muscles and leaned against the headrest of his seat. This would be over soon. In the next three hours, he’d be back on Earth with his family and five hundred million credits in the bank.
The communications console lit up.
“Legacy Two…shipment has been received, you have clearance for startup, over.”
Kelly responded “Legacy Two copies clearance for startup.”
He jumped back into the pilot’s seat, strapped in and ran through the sequence that would ready his ship for the trip home. And as he hit the ignition switch, violent streaks of gunfire lit up the massive hangar outside his viewscreen.
Kelly’s heart slammed into his chest like an out of control wrecking ball. Tracer rounds shredded men and women in mechanized suits, and mercilessly blew apart ships and armored vehicles. The Legacy II lifted gracefully from the landing pad, glided its way out of the cavernous space and into the strong gusts outside. Without the station’s auto guidance system to keep the ship stable, Kelly had to rely on natural reflexes honed by years of experience; nothing he couldn’t handle.
The scene before him was unreal. A lone, military grade, walking battle tank viciously tore the place apart as an unmarked transport ship nearby loaded cargo into its hold…his cargo.
Heart hammering, hands trembling, head swimming, Kelly sent a distress signal to Earth and adjusted his angle of ascent, then rocketed skyward, wanting nothing more than to escape the madness below. He never saw the four missiles streaking toward him. Then in a bright flash of fiery debris, that last thing he felt was horror.
FACT
Kedenians were among the first to leave for the stars. Originally, they settled on Nema; a Goldilocks planet in a system five light years from Earth. But after fifty years of disputes now known as The Splinter Wars, Earthfront expelled the rogue clan, known then as, Keden Industries. Their leader, Amir Kedeni and his supporters were banished and forced to search for a non-hostile world in unknown space and it wasn’t long before they stumbled across a rich, desert planet now named Keden.
As time passed and mankind colonized many systems in the Milky Way, Large Corporations, Governments and various organizations rose to govern it all. Earthfront, the leading authority in most of our Galactic Domain, is the largest governing body in existence. Yet as peace reigns throughout known space, Keden, it seems, would forever be a hostile world to Earthfront.