Moon Strik, page 11
part #3 of Atlantean Conflict Series
Before she could continue, powerful beams of light blasted out from the Atlantean ship and tore into the debris cloud. Wave after wave of light pummeled the asteroids, rocks, and meteors flying toward Earth. Blast after blast rained into the two halves of Thebe, until they were reduced into small bits of rubble and dust, fated to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. A meteor shower like the world had never seen streaked across the sky, announcing the return of the Atlantean civilization to Earth.
“Captain, I have an incoming ship to ship transmission from the Atlanteans,” Allia announced.
Calin said to the Admiral still on the screen, “We’ll get back to you,” and he turned off the comm before the Admiral could object. He turned to Nilos and asked “Do you want to take this?”
Nilos nervously nodded his head and stepped up to the comm station, “Put it through, Allia.”
On the screen a gray eyed woman appeared in a flowing robe, “Greetings.”
“Greetings,” Nilos replied. “I am Commander Nilos of the Tereo. Whom am I addressing?”
With a smile the woman said “I am Lydia, Captain of the Atlantean vessel Centaur. We received your distress call. We were very pleased, and surprised, to hear from you.”
Confused Nilos asked “A distress call?”
Allia interrupted, “When Zenas’s battleships were destroyed, they must have broadcasted an automatic distress call. Remember, Nicia’s ships did it too. It must be a standard operating procedure.”
Confused Nilos turned back to the screen and said “But that was last year.”
Smiling slightly, Lydia replied “We have come a long way. Even with our technology it takes awhile to travel from Proxima Centauri.” She slowly walked across the bridge of her ship as she continued, “We left as soon as we received the beacon. We didn’t know there were still knowledgeable Atlanteans left here. We had assumed that they had all been assimilated into the Terran culture. Trust me, we were very surprised to receive an Atlantean signal.”
Calin interrupted, “Excuse me, if you took that long to get here, how did you know to jump in right as the Earth was in trouble?”
Lydia tilted her head in acknowledgment to Calin, “We had just passed Pluto when our sensors detected laser discharge from your ships, and a large mass about to hit Earth. We normally don’t use faster than light inside a system but when we saw the Terrans where not able to stop the moon, we jumped in. It is a very dangerous maneuver. But I’m glad it worked.
“Proxima? You’ve been on Proxima all this time?” Nilos asked, a bit of anger starting to creep into his voice.
“Yes. We will have to catch up later. Why don’t you let my people help clean up this mess? There are still hundreds of fragments floating around that could be disastrous to Earth’s population and climate. Once we are done, we can sit down and catch up. I know this is a lot to take in, but we are here now and we are here to help.” Lydia offered.
Once the channel was clear Nilos slumped down into a chair in disbelief of what had happened.
Chapter 28
Calin stood looking out the floor-to-ceiling window of the bar on board the Atlantean ship Centaur at the empty space outside. If he thought life had been crazy before, it was nothing compared to the last month since the Atlanteans had returned. Once the Atlanteans had finished cleaning up the attempted apocalypse by Nicia, they officially introduced themselves to the SSA and other leaders on Earth. So far, the people of Earth had welcomed the delegation with open arms. Of course, there were a few protests against the Atlanteans scattered around the Earth. But over the past year the general population had largely accepted the thought of an ancient race of humans. Since Zena’s fleet had exposed the secret existence of the Atlanteans, the people of Earth had become more accepting of civilizations other than their own. At least, Calin thought, Zenas’s attempted coup had at one positive impact.
Calin wished he could talk more about all of this with Nilos, but his friend was busier now than ever before. The PPD had promoted Nilos to the newly created role of Earth Ambassador, and as such, the new head of the Terio group. Nilos had stopped by the Sea Rover last week to give them a fast update, and to ask them for another favor.
He had reported, according to Lydia, the Atlanteans had left the Solar System so the Terrans could develop independently and without their influence. Once the Terran civilization had reached the technological level of wide exploration of Earth, they were afraid of being discovered and of how their advanced technology could impact the normal development of Terran society and culture. So they left. Unfortunately, by that time, the Atlantean race had spread out across the globe and they could not track down all the independent colonies and groups. They had no choice but to hope that whatever Atlanteans where left would eventually be assimilated into the Terran gene pool. But they hadn’t counted on the Atlantean genome being so dominant throughout the generations. Now that they were back, they had been pleased to learn that their descendants had found each other and were attempting to discover and maintain their culture.
Now that the secret of the lost Atlantean people was public knowledge, they were prepared to help the Terrans, by sharing their technology and knowledge. It was time for all of humanity to become one people again, just a race of humans in the vastness of space.
Taking another sip of his Atlantean whiskey, a gift from Lydia, Calin couldn’t help but smile. One thing he could appreciate immediately, they knew how to make some damn fine booze.
Shona walked through the door to the lounge and crossed over to him. Without a word she slipped her arm through his, looked out the window and watched Neptune slip silently past. He looked down, slightly surprise as she leaned comfortably against his shoulder. It had taken him a while to get a handle on her, but he believed he had finally figured this woman out. Give her a normal, no surprises type of life she got cranky and irritable. But if you gave her adventure, excitement, and danger she came alive.
“It won’t be long now. You ready Captain?” she asked.
“I guess. Never in a million years would I have thought we would do anything like this,” he replied. The favor Nilos had asked of them required them to once again, leave everything and everyone they knew behind and leave their home. The Atlanteans and the SSA had agreed that someone needed to go back with the Atlanteans to Proxima Centauri to represent the Terrans. Nilos, as the Earth Ambassador was the first choice, but he refused to leave his sister behind. They had transferred Nicia to a High Security Medical Facility for psychological treatment and therapy. Nilos was busing visiting her every chance he could, so he had volunteered the crew of the Sea Rover to go with the Atlanteans. He had argued, that based on their past record of helping both the Tereo and the people of Earth, they were the best qualified to represent the entire people of Earth in Proxima Centauri.
So now, with the Sea Rover tucked into a hangar down below, with Allia downloading several hundred years of history from the Atlanteans, his crew and he were on their way to Proxima as representatives of Earth.
Wrapping his flesh arm around Shona, he gazed into the black expanse and he couldn’t help but wonder, how in the hell did a smuggler from Luna get himself into this kind of situation? But with a second thought, he decided it didn’t matter. He had his ship. He looked down at Shona on his shoulder, and he had his crew. With his cybernetic arm he raised his glass in a toast to the unknown outside the window. On to the next adventure!
The End
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About the Author
Moon Strike is the third book in The Atlantean Conflict Series, a sci-fi dystopia adventure of ancient secrets, Solar System-wide action, and a smuggler turned reluctant hero.
The Atlantean Conflict Series:
Lunar Escape
Conflict On Mars
Moon Strike
C.P. Macdonald works as a graphic designer and illustrator, and to relax he is a landscape oil painter. But a lifelong love of science fiction drove him to write an entire trilogy at once.
Chris lives in Tennessee with his wife and two kids. He has a Bachelor Degree from the University of Tennessee at Martin in University Studies, focus on Engineering Management.
You can connect with Chris on Facebook, Twitter, and his Website
If you loved the book and have a moment to spare, I would really appreciate a short review on the page where you bought the book. Your help in spreading the word is gratefully appreciated and reviews make a huge difference to helping new readers find the series.
A special thanks to my editor, Kelly Robertson, for all of her feedback. And her many attempts to teach me how to properly use a comma.
C. P. MacDonald, Moon Strik
