Hal

Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises – Chapter 9

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The text, "Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises: A Sun Speaker Story" over a red sun.

Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 9: The God of devouring comes to dinner

I used to think that the noblest thing I could do was die for a good cause. I’m an idiot. Being a martyr can help motivate people but beyond that you can no longer help with anything.

I’m the mouthpiece of a literal God, I have been injected with a pseudo-magical immortality potion, and there’s one thing I know for sure; death is death. You don’t get perfect closure, you don’t get to haunt your friends, and you certainly don’t get to come back.

All of these thoughts crossed my mind as I stood on the bridge of the Hey Sunny and waited for everything to come together.

I had a plan. It was almost impossible, relied on luck and my own immortality, but it was a good plan.

“The micro-suns are in position,” Captain Ng said. 

“Thank you.” I cut the coms and said, “Crew. Some of you have been with me for almost twenty years and some I’ve barely gotten to know. I need to take the ship into my nightmares. I want to be there when the beasts come out. If I’m lucky, I can minimise the death toll. I won’t ask you to come with me.”

Travis stood up and started for the exit, but he turned at the last second and punched me in the arm, “You idiot. Of course we’ll follow you. You’re the bravest, kindest, and best of us, and even if you’re broody, narcissistic, irrational, and make terrible jokes; we’re still going to follow you.”

He returned to his post and the rest of the crew shot me dirty looks. I wished I could send them away. I’d been having visions of this day for over ten years and they all had the horrors of the void-beasts, but unlike my other visions, I wasn’t in them. I don’t know what that meant, but none of the crew were in them either. 

I guess I’d gotten used to knowing the future, and not seeing anything past the destruction scared me. The destruction itself wasn’t much fun to see on repeat either.

“Venusian mother ship, you’re in charge,” I sent before telling Travis to take us into position.

As he pressed the jump commands I told him, two people appeared on the bridge. Zuri and Diamond Stars gave me matching scathing looks, complete with hip pop.

“You idiot, you can’t do this without us.”

No, no, you’re needed with the rest of the fleet in case I fail, I said into their minds. I’m not actually going to try and blow up the suns, that was a clever lie.

“Hal, you’re not that good a liar, and Sol thinks you need help.” Zuri had the condescending tone that only teens can manage. In my head, she added, Gerald stayed behind. He’s still a little shaken from the conversion.

“We’re in position. What’s the real plan?” Travis asked.

Sighing dramatically, I said, “Did everyone know I was planning something?”

Everyone nodded.

Adric laughed and said, “You always have a fake plan, a real plan, and the cobbled together idea of a plan for when everything goes pear-shaped.” 

“Fine.” I threw up my hands in surrender. “I planned on making a shield out of the micro-suns. A few centimetres of pure plasma would be enough to stop the void-beast fleet.”

That’s only half of it. You’re planning on cleansing all the Sun Speakers from the enemy fleet. You want to try and turn them. Diamond Stars smirked. He actually smirked, and damn him, he looked good doing it. When I smirk, I look ridiculous.

Me and the other two Sun Speakers went down to the cargo hold and I opened the cargo bay door. It gave me a perfect view of one of the micro-suns. It was beautiful and wouldn’t survive more than a week without a soul. That’s what stops the suns from burning too bright and too fast, their consciousness or souls.

Suzie stood in the corner, harnessed to the wall with a really big gun in her hands and a sword strapped to her back. I’d tried to tell her it wasn’t necessary, but I lost that argument.

I took the hands of the other Sun Speakers and reached out to the micro-sun. Its fire was bright and pure, ordered in the way that only manufactured things could be. Through it, I reached the next and then the next. Over two thousand spread into a circle around our solar system. 2000AU away from Sol and spread over an area of 12,000AU, each connected to the other and spreading its plasma out.

The feeling was exhilarating, holy, and painful. We channelled the plasma through our powers and felt every part. I knew instantly that I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the others.

We closed the sphere with Sol lending some of his own plasma, and I forced my will on all the other Sun Speakers. Our enemies’ prophets were brainwashed and not willing, so we gave them a choice. That was all we could do for them, that and pray.

I felt the void beasts arrive like a cold shiver down my spine. They saw the shield we’d built, and threw themselves at it with reckless abandon. There was no way we could hold it for long, but we did our best.

I was just starting to think we could thin them out when I heard Suzie screaming and her gun shooting.

I tried to take a step forward and couldn’t. Something was holding onto my chest. I looked down and saw a bloody cross between a paw and a hand sticking out of me. “That’ll give me pause,” I said, giggling as blood pooled in my mouth.That’s when I heard the voice of Denebola echoing through my head, sounding like screeching static, Hal The Sun Speaker of Sol, you and your God have been found wanting. Your death will be celebrated. You and your people shall be devoured.

Read Chapter 9 (October 2024)

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises – Chapter 8

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The text, "Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises: A Sun Speaker Story" over a red sun.

Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 8: Brainwashing and soul cleansing are not the same thing

I’ll spare you the details of the torture, but it wasn’t very effective. That’s the secret no one wants to admit out loud; it’s not the pain that makes someone want to give up, it’s the hunger, thirst, and fear.

A good torturer can keep the pain fresh, giving lots of rests, but it’s still the same every time, and even those that break are reacting more to those other three elements.

I’d like to say that my faith in Sol kept me going, or my natural inborn stubbornness, but it was Suzy. Everytime I thought of breaking, I imagined her disappointed face and kept resisting.

Eventually, my time for action came and I called out, “I give up. Please.”

Gerald came into the room and hugged me like we were old friends. I wanted to be glib but I held my tongue.

“Brother, you have seen the light. It’s time for you to bathe in it.” Gerald had a glazed look in his eyes and he grabbed my head. 

Instantly, I was transported to a metal platform in space, facing a large blue star and a smaller star that pulsed in different colours. In one voice, the binary stars of Spica spoke, “Your god has violated the rules of the council and will be destroyed for its impudence. You need not face the same fate. Join us and see a great universe.” The voices were like weights on my mind; they made me want to believe them. There was power in their voice, but not the same as Sol. It felt like Spica was trying to burn away everything that was me while Sol tried to burn away everything that wasn’t me.

“Yeah, yeah. Make the Universe Great Again. Politicians have been promising that for over a millenia. It’s bullshit from them and it’s no better from you.”

Gerald had spent a lot of his life converting others to his god. The process was always the same so that by the time the subject was ready, they couldn’t fight back. I had spent most of my time seeing the horrors of my solar system and being shown by Sol how it felt. I was used to pain and was nigh immortal when it came to hunger and thirst, so I was ready for a fight.

Through the connection that Gerald had made with me, I poured my will and power. I treated Spica’s influence the same way I would a virus or bacteria. Both of us burst into flames as Sol’s cleansing power washed over me and his healing power did the same to Gerald. 

Gerald was surprised. The other suns didn’t care about healing. Humans were fragile but plentiful. I cleaned the man’s soul and mind of all the corrupting influences. 

That’s when I realized the big difference between the council of suns and Sol. The first controlled their Sun Speakers directly, while the latter just guided us. Maybe that’s why Sol never spoke in words, only images.  

“What in the Black!” cursed Gerald. I didn’t need to show him the way his mind and soul had been twisted, he already knew.

That level of cleansing would have killed me before Doctor Janet’s eternal youth serum. Instead, it made me feel weak and I collapsed.

Gerald had the guards take me to my cell and followed me. When I finally was able to sit up, he gave me some juice that tasted like sweet grapefruit. It helped me feel better and I asked, “How long before they realize?”

“The power of the council is a little slower here, there seems to be a delay of just under an hour.”

That wasn’t a lot of time, and I wasn’t doing anything fast.

Gerald smiled and said, “Funny you should say that, Sol showed me the way.”

Surprised, I asked, “You accepted Sol as your god?” I’d expected the Sun Speakers to be disoriented and reject their gods, not jump to Sol.

“They asked politely and for the first time in my life I was able to choose.”

Now I was definitely jealous, I’d never been given the chance to choose.

He picked me up like I weighed nothing and carried me to an airlock. He put me gently into it and for a moment I panicked. “I thought you were about to throw me out the airlock,” I said with less confidence than I’d hoped.

“Oh. I am,” He entered and closed the door behind him. I stood up to protest and he caught me. “Hold on to me as tight as you can, brother.”

I wanted to say something either cutting or childish or both but he hit the airlock purge button and we were thrown clear of the ship.

People think all kinds of strange things about space but most of it wasn’t true. The vacuum sucking all the air out of your lungs is true, but at least our eyeballs didn’t explode.

Just as I was starting to worry about my chest collapsing, I felt warmth and breathable air.

The Revenge had a cloaking device and must have been waiting for us. No one could have done the math to catch us. Thank Sol, the ship had a Sun Speaker on it.

With a jovial laugh, Bart helped me up, his tail was wagging. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that. I swayed and he caught me. “You look like you need a vacation.”

“I should have a few days before—” Sol cut me off with a vision so horrifying I don’t want to repeat it. They also let me know that we had three hours to prepare.

This fainting thing was becoming a bad habit. When I came too, I rushed to the nearest trash can and lost the juice from earlier. I wouldn’t be able to stomach that for a while.

“Get me to my ship. My nightmares are coming.” The real war was about to start and I prayed that the rest of the fleet was better prepared than I.

Read Chapter 9 (September 2024)

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises – Chapter 7

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The text, "Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises: A Sun Speaker Story" over a red sun.

Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 7: A Foolish Plan While Playing the Fool.

“My name is Hal, first Speaker of Sol and spokesperson for the Sol fleet. You’re ridiculous, silly, and completely out of your depths,” I tried to sound authoritative.

Despite my, well-founded, protests, the coalition had named me spokesperson. I was the face of an entire system and most of both sides now probably hated me.

Actual leadership didn’t fall to me however; that dubious honour went to Queen Gwinevere the Second, High Queen of Venus. She’d been trained in fleet combat as a child and learned at her father’s side during the hundred year Venus-Mars war. 

I had voted for Zuri, since she was the reincarnation of Arthur, but apparently it’s weird to have a teen in charge of an army. I guess they don’t read the same books I do.

Gerald the High Speaker of Spica, Voice of the Conclave of Suns replied with, “Does that mean you are going to try to block us from collapsing Sol?” He sounded confused. Good, that’s what I wanted.

“We have fifteen or so factions here. Can you give us a week to work out what we’re going to do?” I said it in my best growly voice. No one expects you to be silly in this sort of situation.

After a few moments of silence, he replied, “You have twenty four hours.” That was a nice holdover from our enemies being descendants of Earth. They used the same time measurements as we did. 

From beside me, Suzy asked, “Why are you stalling?”

“The sooner they start shooting, the less likely we are to survive,” I answered before opening a secure channel to the Galahad, “How are you coming with the suns?” I’d asked them to make non-sapient micro-suns that we could scatter around the solar system and use as bombs. I wasn’t actually going to use them as explosives. I had bigger plans. 

“We’re on schedule. We’re just finishing the two thousand five hundred and sixty-seventh.”

“And are they deployed?”

Captain Ng replied, “All but this last one.”

“Excellent. When you’re done, sit back and prepare to help where you can.” I closed the line and hoped they could help repair and save the crews of ships that were damaged. With their micro-sun powered drive, they were the fastest ship in the system.

Have you ever had a really important meeting and then spent the entire day before it just being stressed? Yeah, that’s what I did. I paced, I figured, I even pretended to take a nap. Finally, the deadline came due and I hailed the enemy. “We’d like to negotiate a ceasefire,” I said.

“We haven’t fired at you yet,” Gerald said. 

“We know and we’d like to keep it that way. We would like to meet face to face and discuss how we can let you through with the smallest loss of life possible.”

Their coms cut off and I could tell that Gerald was trying to figure out what our deal was. I was, of course, just trying to delay until the forces of Denebola showed up and started trying to kill everything, even their allies. For the thousandth time I wondered if they knew what was coming.

After a few moments, he replied, “Affirmative Hal, you have permission to approach our mothership with an unarmed shuttle and two guards.”

“I will be coming alone. Give me a few hours.” My words were greeted by gasps around my bridge and I had to cut the coms.

“For the record, I hate this plan.” Suzy squeezed my hand a little too tightly. Everyone else just looked baffled.

The night before, I’d realized I could do more damage on the mothership and had told Suzy what I was planning. She’d threatened to tie me to the bed, and not in a sexy way, until I explained things in detail. I had managed to communicate with the other sun speakers and I tried to do the same with her. It wasn’t as clear but it got enough information across that she’d agreed.

I took nothing with me for fear that they’d notice any tricks. I took a tiny shuttle and piloted toward the mother ship. It was a slow ride and I tried to nap but it didn’t work. The tension in the solar system was so thick, I half expected a snake-shaped asteroid would cause people to start firing. 

I reached the moon-sized goliath they called a mothership and wondered how many billions were in it. They caught me in a tractor beam and pulled me into the belly of the beast.

I really wanted to make these people out as monsters and horrors of deep space, but they were just hyper-devoted bigots, something I was more than familiar with. They had families, feelings, and had spent their lives being told they were the chosen people of the gods. 

I was met with an armed escort and by Gerald himself. “They don’t value your life very highly do they, Gerry?” I asked.

Again he looked confused but answered, “I am replaceable. If I were to fall, the gods would choose another Speaker as their emissary.”

“Alright, this is the part where you arrest me and try to force me to convert to your God,” I said and moved forward with my arms out.

“How could you possibly know that?”

“I don’t care how many centuries it’s been, you’re a human and we’re all the same,” I replied, trying not to think of what I saw they’d do to me.

“Your God didn’t tell you?” Gerald asked, surprised.

I shook my head and said, “He didn’t need to. Now, off to the torture chambers with me.”

“Once you’ve come to love Spica, you shall return to your people and spread his word. We shall convert you and the rest of your people. Thank you for winning this war for us.”

“Yay! The sisters at the orphanage always said I was a winner. Now hurt me, Gerry. I’ve been a bad rebel Sun Speaker.”

Read Chapter 8

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

Mid-Year Review of Éric’s 2024 New Year’s Resolutions

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Hello,

After a year off of resolutions, I made a whole bunch. Let’s see how I did.

Calvin: Well. it’s a New Year. And I’d say the first to hours haven’t been up to snuff.
Hobbes: Did you make any New Year’s resolutions?
Calvin: You bet! I resolved to quit hiding my feelings so much! From now on, the world’s gonna know exactly what I think of it!
Hobbes: Yes, you’ve certainly been the model of self-restraint and under-statement up until now.
Calvin: Well no more. And I’ve also resolved not to put up with sarcastic tigers.
Hobbes: If I see any, I’ll tell them.

1. Write a serial story. (Succeeding)

This year I’m writing the final chapter of Speakers of the Rebel Sun, as the serial story. It’s quite epic. I haven’t missed an update and all is going well, I think.

Go read: Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises

2. Finish Speakers of the Rebel Sun (Succeeding)

I’ve done some editing and I’m using the serial story to finish this up and it’s looking good. I have 2 other stories inside to write and then I’ll be done. So far it’s on track.

As for submission, I’m not sure. I’m going through some stuff due to a rejection and it’s got me rethinking what I want to do.

3. Finish Fanatics! Inevitable Honeymoon Crashers (Succeeding)

We are at Chapter 17 of 24 and moving along. It’s a little slower than before because we’re busier and I’m having a terrible year health wise.

4. Clean up FADDS and continue the re-skin towards making the Aetherverse the default setting. (Succeeding)

We’ve been playing a game in Everdome and it’s going well. I’ve expanded and cleaned a whole bunch of things and even created a Great Beast for my players to meet.

5. Play more Ukulele and Bass (Failing)

I’ve had multiple colds and infections which means I haven’t had motivation or a voice. I would like to get back to it. I’ve played maybe a few times a week at most.

6. Work weekly on my magical café (Failing)

I did super well in January on this and then it fell off. So many tiny things, sigh. I’ll try to get back to it.

7. Read at least 10 books (Succeeded)

I’ve managed 19 books so far and only about half of those are audiobooks. I’m still struggling to let myself read for pleasure but I’m getting there.

8. Be kind to myself (Failing)

There have been some major hurdles with health and with rejections and I’m having a hard time. I’m trying hard to see myself as worthy but I’ve spent so long thinking of myself as barely average that it’s hard.

9. Find time for me (Failing)

Gardening is helping but I constantly feel like I’m letting everyone down if I’m not doing something. I need to learn to relax and let things go. It might be time to start thinking about what I prioritize and how to rearrange my life.

10. Restart posting JenEric Movie Reviews (Succeeding)

I started posting again January 13th and have managed a weekly review since. Now I just have to keep it up. Thankfully it’s something fairly quick to write up.

So far so good with 5 Succeeding, 1 Succeeded, and only 4 Failing. I’m definitely seeing a trend of me prioritizing doing something for others over something for myself. I need to work on that.

Be kind and stay safe,

Éric

Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises – Chapter 6

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The text, "Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises: A Sun Speaker Story" over a red sun.

Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 6: Suns of War not Slaughter.

The Galahad’s bridge was quiet as Zuri explained Hal’s plan. Her lack of confidence was evident in her delivery.

“They want us to distract the ships so they can fight our battle?” Bart asked in complete disbelief. His tail wrapping around his left leg.

“We can’t win this one,” Alexandre said emotionlessly.

“Bah!” Bart said, and scowled.

As the others discussed it, Nessa stayed silent. When the conversation transitioned from frustration to grudging acceptance, she finally spoke, “It’s a sound, strategic plan.”

Zuri heard the hesitation in Nessa’s voice and asked, “But?”

“I’ve met commanders like him before. More interested in avoiding casualties than winning the battle. They are all martyrs and egoists. He’s going to get a lot of people killed because he has more respect for life than our enemies,” Nessa said.

“Should we leave? It’s not our war,” Alexandre asked.

Bart guffawed and said, “Run from a fight? Not me.”

Nessa nodded and said, “I’m not running from a fight. We can help. We just have to make sure we’re ready to make up for his weakness. Zuri, can you do the sun bomb detonation?”

Shaking her head, Zuri replied, “I know how, and I have the power, but channelling all that would burn me from the inside before I could finish. He’s right that it needs all three of us. I’m also firm on not wanting to slaughter trillions.”

Nessa sighed and said, “I have never been a fan of senseless death. I’m not sure the Sun fleets are going to hesitate at the idea of the sun bombs. What we need is a way of distracting them.”

“I could tap dance on the bow?” suggested Bart, which got everyone chuckling.

“No one would see it unless we projected it…” Zuri trailed off before exclaiming, “That’s it!” When everyone looked confused she added, “We need to make ourselves look bigger. As if we have more ships. If we project the image of ships on the asteroids from the inner and outer belts, then we can make it look like we have millions of more ships.”

“The mass of the asteroids would fool the sensors and the visual projection would fool their eyes. What about these psychic powers they seem to have?” Alexandre asked.

“They’re not perfect and so far from their suns, it might work.” Zuri hoped she wasn’t being too optimistic.

It took her a few weeks to work out the energy cost and the technology needed. It was an exciting puzzle with concrete math and goals, something she’d missed ever since arriving in the Sol system. She appreciated being the reincarnation of Arthur and the knowledge that came with that, but this situation felt like an impossible task.

She’d just finished transmitting the technical specifications to the rest of the fleet when Hal suddenly appeared beside her. They’d barely spoken since the big meeting.

“Hey,” he said as if it was normal for gangly older men to appear out of thin air.

“How did you get here?”

“I’m not. I’m sitting comfortably on my ship. I just projected myself into your mind. Some of the telepaths can do it amongst themselves so I decided to try. Hold on, let me get Diamond.” His face contorted into a weird shape, and suddenly standing next to him was Diamond.

Zuri always felt a little flustered around Diamond. He was the handsomest man she’d ever met. “Hi,” she said, trying not to blush at thinking of him in her mind.

“I hear you went off on your own and worked out a clever plan,” Hal said, looking pointedly at Zuri.

“I did, but—”

He cut her off and added, “Good job. I need you two to work on your own plans. Three times the meddling and maybe we’ll see the other side of this.”

“It’s quite clever. Good job kid,” Diamond said. “Is this secure? Can the others hear us?”

Hal shrugged. Zuri wondered if the older man exaggerated his movements to seem less of a threat. He replied, “If you mean from your crew, yes. If you mean from other psychics or Sun Speakers, I have no idea.”

He barely finished when Sol sent them all a vision. The fleets were almost there. They had less than an hour before they were horribly outnumbered.

“They’re early. Let your crews know and let’s get our welcome party ready,” Hal ordered. Zuri didn’t like the fear in his voice.

The Galahad, the Hey Sunny, and The Revenge flew out to the edge of the solar system and got ready to meet the enemy. The enemy’s wormhole generators got less accurate the closer to a sun they tried to exit, which meant they usually attacked from just outside the system.

“The foreseeable future is terrifying but we have each other, several decent plans, and Sol protecting us. In the darkest moments of the coming battle, remember that we are born of Sol and we die in Sol.” It wasn’t the most inspiring speech but it made Zuri feel better.

Surrounded by the cyborg Myrddin ships, they waited. When the ships arrived, it was like watching heavy rain falling on a calm lake. Each drop was another ship competing to block out the blackness of space. 

The ships were all the same basic black matte but they varied in size and in the colour of the insignia. They appeared and didn’t do anything until one larger ship arrived.

The ship was three times bigger than any of the others and had a black sigil. “I am Gerald the High Speaker of Spica, Voice of the Conclave of Suns. You are outnumbered, outgunned, and out of time. This fleet isn’t here for the servants of the Rebel Sun, we are only here for the sun. Stay out of our way and we’ll show you leniency.

Zuri saw in a vision the death they had planned in the name of compassion. She couldn’t let that happen.

Read Chapter 7

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises – Chapter 5

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The text, "Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises: A Sun Speaker Story" over a red sun.

Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 5: Obligatory boardroom and planning scene

“Denebola,” I (Hal) said, hoping to get a rise out of someone. It was the sun that the Sun Speaker on the Robinson had said he represented before I flew our ship into Sol and let the plasma work it out. 

The entire crew of the Revenge did a complicated gesture over their hearts. “Let me guess… God of your people?”

It was Diamond that answered, “No. The God of Black-Sun is Spica. Denebola is the god of devouring in the Pantheon. He is the one that eats the rebel suns. His Speakers are twisted and lead armies of Void-Beasts.”

I saw the look in Diamond and Zuri’s eyes a split second before the vision hit me. Our three ships were flying toward the edge of the system when the Denebola fleet arrived. They were the ships I’d been having nightmares about. They were black and shiny like they were covered in tar, their angles were wrong and seemed to shift as I watched.

The Sol fleet had already been decimated by the Sun Fleet. This new influx was the last straw, and I saw them retreat through a portal near Mars.

The Denebola ships started to attack the other sun’s ships, the planets, and anything between them and Sol. By the end of the vision, there was nothing left, the Sol had been extinguished.

The meeting room on the Hey Sunny had really comfy chairs for when this happened. The three of us woke up to our friends looking worried. 

“That was concerning,” I understated.

Zuri ran to the corner and threw up in the garbage. Her captain brought her some water to rinse her mouth, and the girl came back.

I had an idea but I needed more information first. “Zuri, your ship creates an FLT-bubble and moves space around it?”

“Yes. But it takes a lot of energy,” she replied.

“Diamond, you use a jump drive? With a wormhole generator for long distance trips?” The jump drive was similar to the way my ship and most of the Sol system ships worked.

The man nodded. 

I turned to our last guest, Captain Jan, and asked, “You have an actual sun inside your ship, and it propels you how?”

“My people have been using stardrives for millennia. We use the sun’s natural resonance to move the universe around the ship.”

Adric, Zuri, and all the other tech heads started asking questions at the same time. When they’d calmed down, I asked the question I’d been dreading since I’d heard of the stardrive, “Can you make more non-sapient micro stars?”

The captain looked confused as she replied, “Yes, but they’d be useless for stardrives. The mind of the sun is what does all the calculations.”

“I don’t want to use them as stardrives. I want to use them as bombs. We can manipulate the plasma levels in the sun and cause it to go supernova. If we can make enough, I can create a chain reaction that would take out most of that fleet.” 

“Hal! Channelling that sort of energy would kill you!” Suzie exclaimed.

Taking her hand gently, I replied, “It would but I’m not alone anymore. With three people, it’ll be a lot easier.” Turning to Adric, I said, “Can you retrofit the ship to have a stardrive and a wormhole generator?”

“Yeah, with some help,” he seemed confident but overwhelmed. We all were.

“Okay. Captain Ng. How many non-sapient suns can you create in a month?”

She looked over at her crew and spoke in their language before turning to me and saying, “If we can use Sol for extra power, we can probably have a few thousand by that time.”

“Excellent. Let’s all get ready.” Dismissed, everyone started to leave. When there was only me, Suzie, Zuri, and Diamond left, I cocked an eyebrow and asked, “What is it?”  

It was Zuri who spoke first. She tried hard to sound confident but years of being looked down on showed in her tone. “I don’t like the idea of killing trillions.”

“I don’t like the Suns but it seems harsh to kill them like that,” Diamond added.

I gave a theatrical sigh before asking, “What other options do we have? They’re not going to offer us the same courtesy.”

“I don’t know but there has to be another option,” Zuri said and her attitude was like looking into a mirror.

Diamond nodded and his lower lip jutted out in a stubborn pout. I swear the man could have been a male model.

Earlier the three of us had exchanged information in a wholly new way that involved sharing our history together through a telepathic connection. I showed them everything I had learned about being a Sun Speaker, Diamond showed us all the training a Black-Sun Sun Speaker received, and finally Zuri shared her multi-lifetime experience as the reincarnation of King Arthur. It was fascinating to see the difference between everyone’s training and how varied the powers they accessed. One of the reasons me and my predecessors had such short lifespans was that we spent a lot more energy and power than was safe.  

“I’m glad to hear that,” I said and tried to smile reassuringly. “I’m hoping the micro sun bombs can be more of a deterrent until the Denebola ships arrive. If we can keep the Sun’s armies busy without hurting them, they’ll have no choice but to help face off against the void-beasts and their masters.”

“What?” all three of them said at the same time.

“We saw those ships attacking everything. I’m guessing that the Sun fleet has a sense of survival. We just have to delay them until the real nightmares arrive and then hope we can take whoever survives.”

Suzie chuckled and said, “That’s the most Hal plan I’ve ever heard.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I replied.

She chided, “Don’t. It’s still very risky and depends on us being able to distract a fleet of bloodthirsty zealots.”

“Distracting is what I do second best,” I said with as much confidence as I could.

“What do you do first best?” Zuri asked suspiciously.

“Getting into trouble,” I replied. 

Suzie rolled her eyes and the other two Sun Speakers walked out of the meeting room.

“I know you’re keeping something from the rest of the group. Why?” Suzie asked, and I loved her all the more for not asking what.“I’m not sure how much the enemy Sun Speakers can see or how much control they have. If I could watch them planning, I know I would. I want to keep as many surprises as I can.”

Read Chapter 6

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Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises – Chapter 4

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Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 4: A Flashback to a Diamond

The closer we got to Sol and his system, the more powerful my visions became. The visions were intense and terrifying.

There was more than just Black-Sun massing to attack. There was a whole rainbow of suns. The full spectrum; Black, White, Blue, Violet, Red, Orange, and Yellow. 

The irony is that Sol’s system spawned the humans that comprised these fleets. Old Earth had had three mass exodus, the first two had colonised the Sol System, the third had seen them colonise the galaxy.

As they’d travelled, they’d come across the sapient stars and those same stars saw the human’s potential. It had taken just over five hundred years for the whole thing to go from scattered explorers to trillions of soldiers. The suns worked fast to try and quell the rebels among them.

Sol believed in the sanctity of life and freewill, while the others believed it was their right to rule the universe. I, newly renamed, ironically, Diamond Stars, wanted one thing. The same as the name of my ship, Revenge.

How was my small, mostly unarmed, ship supposed to exact revenge on a fleet counting millions? I had no idea. 

We were cloaked from the fleet, both from their scanners and from their Sun Speakers. I had found a nifty device that blocked the Black-Sun from finding us. From wormhole to wormhole we followed them, since we didn’t have our own wormhole generator, and caused havoc when we could.

It was just me, Onyx, my boyfriend, and his little sister Sphene. We had all the expertise to run the ship and take care of ourselves, but not to cause any major damage to the fleet. After almost two years we got our chance.

Sol gave me the answer in the form of a vision. The Sun Speakers from Black-Sun are trained from birth in how to handle and survive the visions. I had forced the information out of one of their Sun Speakers, which meant I wasn’t in constant pain or slowly killing my brain. That didn’t mean it was pleasant.

After the vision, I ran to a computer terminal and started typing. When I was done, Onyx massaged my shoulders and asked, “What is that?”

“I have no idea,” I said.

“Your sun god is really vague and like I’m not sure he knows what he’s doing,” Sphene said from across the room, lounging in the way only a teenager could. She stood up and walked over. She read the gibberish in front of me and said, “That’s computer code. Looks like a program to hijack their wormhole generator.” 

The three of us were geniuses, me with mechanical devices and ships, Onyx with anything biological, and Sphene with code, although she preferred weapons. 

“Where will it send them?” I knew it was sending them somewhere the moment she described it.

“Looks like the galactic core,” Sphene chuckled. “That many ships that close to the core would definitely get sucked into the black hole.”

Onyx played with my hair, which was making thinking hard, and asked, “How do we get that code to them?”

“We’ll need to infiltrate a ship,” Sphene replied.

I shook my head, “No. We just need a comms antenna. I could do it from outside a ship.”

The strong brown fingers stopped playing with my hair. Onyx said, “Wouldn’t we be stuck here?”

“We have a matter-replicator and the Black-Sun plans. I’m sure I could build a wormhole generator.” I didn’t say that it would have to be one jump and if I screwed up the math, we’d die a horrible death with our atoms spread across a dozen systems.

I suited up and Sphene took us close to one of the ships. The cloak worked better from a distance and the closer we got, the easier it would be for Black-Sun to see us. 

The calm of space is also its scariest attribute. The quiet, cold, and seemingly unending distances seem safe, until you factor in the fact that space wants you dead. Despite this, I jumped out of the ship with nothing but a spacesuit to protect me. I had a little jetpack that propelled me to the ship. 

I floated toward the comms array, and when I got there, I unscrewed the panel and plugged in my small pad. It took me a few moments to download the code and send it to the fleet.

“They’re activating the wormhole generators,” Onix said into my earpiece, sounding worried. “Get out of there!”

It’s called space but it’s pretty full of stuff. Space radiation, debris, and other things fly around at high speeds everywhere. As I headed back to the ship, I was hit by a small meteor and tossed off course.

I was about to get hit by the ship I’d added the code to when a well-aimed grappling hook caught me and pulled me back into the Revenge.

“Thanks, Sphene,” I said panting as I got back into the ship.

“Go to medical. You’re bleeding.” She sounded annoyed but I could hear the worry behind her tone.

In the room that was deemed medical, I watched the last of the Black-Sun ships fly into the wormhole. “Good riddance,” I said. A vision from Sol told me that the fleet would be decimated by the gravity wells and the creatures that lived there. Horrifying humanoid dog alligator creatures, I’d seen them before, they were nightmare creatures we’d called Void-Beasts.

“You look pale, let me sew that up,” Onyx said, gently helping me in bed. “I’ve seen you hurt worse. Why do you look terrified?”

“We just destroyed ninety-percent of the Black-Sun fleet.”

“That’s great!”

“Those ships that survived are going to be joining the fight with void-beasts by their side.” We’d won a victory, but at what cost?Sol gave me a new vision and it was of the same battle I’d been dreaming about, but this time there were less Black-Sun, and I could see a fleet of Sol ships led into battle by three ships; the Warship Ennill, the Hey-Sunny, and the Revenge.

Read Chapter 5

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Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises – Characters

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Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

I was told the sheer quantity of characters was a little intimidating. I started to understand as I made this list. Hopefully this will help keep the characters straight.

Hal the Sun Speaker

Hal

Born 825 Post First Earthen Emigration. A prophet called the Sun-Speaker, he gets visions from the god Sol that lives in the sun. He was raised on Venus from the age of ten.

Rose

A doctor who was part of Hal’s crew. She is currently in hiding, raising the future King of Mars with her wife Sofia.

Sofia

Former special forces in the Mars militia, she was dishonorably discharged for saving Hal’s life against orders. The first time she met him, she also beat the crap out of him. She is his former bodyguard.

Gwinevere the Second, High Queen of Venus

As a child, found Hal hiding in the luggage of the royal ship. They dated as teenagers. When he was ex-communicated from the church, she broke all ties.

Princess Lenay

Princess of Venus. She was born with an immune disorder like her mother but both were healed by Hal.

Thomas the sixth, Ruler of Mars

King of Mars being raised in exile on Earth. He was kidnapped as a child by the Venetians.

The Assassin

Suzie (AKA Helena)

Former assassin with the Maidens of Antichthon. Hal helped her uncover the corruption in the organzation and she joined his crew as his new bodyguard. They eventually developed feelings for each other and are now dating.

Samantha

The assassin trainer from the Maidens of the Antichthon. Disgraced, she was tortured and implanted with cybernetics and sent to fight in the arena. Hal healed her and the expelled cybernetics became their own person. Currently both are in charge of the The Mederei Alpha, a former gladiator ship which is now a home for refugees.

Seren Plentyn and the Secret of Hokulua Station

Seren Plentyn

An adventurous twenty-something archeologist and linguist. Member of the Children of the Stars.

Captain Jan Ng

A stern but fair life-long miliary soldier. They are the captain of the MOAS (Mother of all Suns) Warship Ennill.

Annie Musa

Wife of Seren and ace fighter pilot. Annie is sarcastic and loyal. Member of the Children of the Stars.

Mother of All Suns

The last remnants of an ancient civilization downloaded their minds into a great machine. Its power source was a sun and that sun’s consciousness merged with the people.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to my Funeral

Janet

Plutonian who discovered the secret to eternal youth. Despite looking 18, she is a brilliant doctor and scientist.

Adric

Computer and engineering genius. Helped free Callisto from mob rule with his hacking skills. Currently the engineer on Hal’s ship, the Hey Sunny.

Travis

A Mercurian pilot. Hal served as a medic on his ship. To save his life, Hal had to leave him on a pirate ship to be tortured.

Caro

The system’s strongest telepath and precog. Former member of Hal’s crew currently living on Xanthus.

Gladiators in SPACE!

Henrick Al-Mer of the house of Mers

Royal instructor to the kings and queens of Mars.

Aly

Martian-Barsoonian adviser to the King and former leader of his people.

Diamond Stars and the Galactic Heist

Diamond Stars (AKA Garnet)

Former Black-Sun operative who went rogue. Current incarnation of the Robin Hood style character Diamond Stars and captain of the Revenge. Also a recent Sun Speaker of Sol.

Onyx

Doctor on the Revenge. Boyfriend of Diamond Stars.

Sphene

Younger sister of Onyx. Weapons expert and gunner on the Revenge.

Ghost Ship Robinson

Fry

Ex-soldier and mercenary. Died on the Robinson

Hoff

Ex-soldier and mercenary. Bioscience expert on the Hey Sunny.

Teddy

Former engineer on the Hey Sunny. Died on the Robinson.

The Suns of War

Nessa Muldune

Captain of the ISS Galahad. She’s a Feline Martian who has a strong love for her crew, knowledge, and justice.

Alexandre Crowley

Senior science officer of the ISS Galahad. He’s a Serpant Tyrite who values logic over emotion.

Tanya Brook

Lieutenant weapons officer of the ISS Galahad. She’s a Sapian Martian. She’s tall, muscled, and looks like she’s been in plenty of fights.

Em Frechette

Master Sargent and communications officer of the ISS Galahad. They’re a Sapian Tyrite. 

Peri Anson

Doctor of the ISS Galahad. He’s an older Sapian Martian. His interest lies in his crew and their health above all else.

Bart Shelby

Lieutenant and pilot of the ISS Galahad. He’s Canine Arisian with plenty of years as a fighter pilot.

Arzure Pendreicht (Zuri)

Head Engineer of the ISS Galahad. She’s a young Sapian Martian, the reincarnation of King Arthur, and a Sun Speaker for Sol.

Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises: A Sun Speaker Story (Serial Story) — Chapter 3

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The text, "Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises: A Sun Speaker Story" over a red sun.

Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 3: Hope arrives, Sol help us if it’s false hope

People as individuals are only predictable if you know them. People as a group are always predictable. Scared people are even more.

It took me nearly a half hour to get them to shut up and listen to me. It might have taken less time if I’d done more than look at them scathingly. 

When they’d finally calmed down, I said the worst possible thing, “These ships are our Allies, and despite their numbers they are nothing compared to what is coming.” That cost me another ten minutes of their panicking.

“The enemy we are facing wants only one thing, to destroy our sun and anyone it its way.” I thought this was a pretty good call to arms. 

I was surprised by the Venutian Queen saying, “What if we left? The old Earth corporations did it. We could find new homes.”

The head of the Psionic Clans, a thin and gangly man with bug-like eyes, answered, “Old Earth had a few billion people, and most of them probably died in the void between galaxies. Moving the trillion inhabitants of the system is impossible.”

The room was quiet and they all looked around. It didn’t take any special psychic powers for me to know what they were thinking. They were all the rich, the ruling elite. They were trying to decide if they could save themselves.

“You could spend your fortunes on leaving or you could spend them on preparing for what’s to come. With our new allies, we can create defensive turrets, mines, build new ships, and give them more than they bargained for.” I’d hoped for a “Void, Yeah!” or something equally as motivated but instead they all furrowed their brows and thought about it.

I walked out as they argued about who was going to do what.

Again I sat down on the floor and cradled my head. “Any progress?” Suzie asked me. 

“Yes, but we still have a lot of arguing to go through,” I said. She handed me some headache medicine and a bottle with water in it. “Thanks.”

“You’re getting a lot of headaches. Are you dying again?” she was glib but I could tell she was worried. 

“No. Not yet. I’m just tired of all the yelling.”

She sneered at the door and then looked at me in confusion, “But the headaches have been since we found that ghost ship.”

“Not their yelling,” I said and finished the water bottle. “The yelling in my head. Sol is really chatty and the closer our enemy gets, the louder their suns’ voices get. It’s like trying to listen to your loudest friend in front of a speaker at a Martian Metal concert.”

She whistled and replied, “Ouch.” She kissed me on the head and looked uncomfortable. She wanted what any significant other would have wanted, to stop the thing that was hurting me, but as amazing a fighter as she was she couldn’t stop an armada.

Coming back into the room, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mercurial Guild had volunteered to make the weapons, while the Venusian Empire agreed to build ships.

“Who’s going to build the matter replicators, cloaking devices, micro-sun propulsion engines, and fighter ships?” I asked.

They all looked at me like I had just spouted off a bunch of technology that didn’t exist. To be fair, that’s exactly what I’d done. 

Over the coms, Adric said, “Sir, three more ships just appeared. One of them is massive.”

“Our other allies have arrived,” I said. “They have various technologies that can help us but we have to work together.” A vision hit me and I saw how one of the ships had arrived. “Diamond Stars brought us a gift.” Before they asked, I added, “Diamond Stars is the name of the captain of one of the ships, and he hijacked one of the enemy’s ships. We can use it to try and find their weakness.”

Adric routed a call from one of the ships to the conference hall, “This is Captain Ng of the Warship Ennill. We’ve been sent by the Children of the Stars to help you. Do you accept our help?”

For once, everyone in the room deferred to me. I didn’t like being chosen as the leader but I didn’t have a choice, “This is Hal, Sun Speaker of Sol. You are more than welcome. Make your way to the third planet from the Sun. I hear we have a lot of building to do.”

Captain Ng barked a small laugh and said, “You have no idea.” 

When the coms cut out, I said, “They seem nice. Better than disembodied brains controlling ships.” The comment was ignored and I’m glad I didn’t have to explain about the fleet of Myrddin that had come to help defend us.

The other two ships introduced themselves. There was the Galavant captained by Captain Muldune; they had just come from a devastating war against the same enemy but all three of their solar systems were destroyed. The second was the Revenge captained by Diamond Stars. They followed and managed to get past part of the enemy fleet.

Through the noise of Sol and the other suns in my head, I heard, Hal? Can you hear me? This is Diamond Stars. Sol called for my help. His voice was deep and full.

Diamond Stars? I love that name! another voice in my head said. I’m Arzure Pendreicht but call me Zuri. Her voice was young and enthusiastic.

With that, I was no longer the only Sun Speaker of Sol. I had backup. Why didn’t that make me feel better?

Read Chapter 4

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Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises: A Sun Speaker Story (Serial Story) — Chapter 2

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Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 2: Seren and friends get a call for help

The Children of the Stars had been travelling the universe for ten thousand years. Annie could swear that’s how long they’d been assigned to the Mother of all Star’s planet. She was sick of sitting still and wanted to be moving again. It had only been five years in reality, but it had been a very uneventful five years.

“Can’t you sit still for two seconds?” Seren asked. She was sitting on the couch with her tablet translating the ancient language of the Mother. 

In the five years since they’d discovered this place, their entire civilization had gone from hoarding technology and enslaving micro-suns to sharing their knowledge and working with the suns as equals.

When the Children of the Stars were still just crawling out into the universe, they’d discovered a planet that had been hollowed out to make room for a micro-sun. The sun had been created to power a massive computer that housed the consciousness of the original inhabitants of the planet. Something had happened and the minds merged with the sapience of the sun. They melded into a wonderful and powerful mind. 

Instead of marvelling at what they’d discovered, they stole the technology and then pushed the planet into a void between galaxies. They monopolized the technology and travelled the universe.

Since Annie and Seren had re-discovered the Mother, they’d made a lot of fascinating discoveries. The largest being the ability to speak with suns. Every sun is sapient but until recently, they’d only been able to talk to the Mother and her children.

“The suns say anything interesting?” Annie asked.

Seren pointed at what she was working on and said, “This is just a novel I’m translating. It relaxes me.” 

Laughing, Annie walked over to her wife and kissed her head, saying, “Okay. That’s weird. Cute, but weird.”

A message beeped on both their watches. It was their friend and boss, Jan, or as they were supposed to call them, Captain Ng. Emergency meeting, my office. Now!

The captain’s office was sparsely decorated and Annie would normally tease them about it, but when she and Seren entered, they saw that the room was filled with high level military.

Annie saluted and said, “Generals!”

Seren only nodded politely since she wasn’t military. 

“Good. Thank you for coming,” said the soft voice of the Mother coming from a speaker in the walls. “I have been speaking with the suns and they are concerned about what is happening in the Milky Way Galaxy.” She brought up a starmap. 

“That’s one of the old galaxies,” Seren said, looking almost hungry. “Our home galaxy, Abell 1689, is roughly five hundred million years old. Most of the galaxies we’ve travelled to are between that and five billion. The Milky Way and the old quadrant are between ten and fifteen billion years old. Who knows what we could find.” An archeologist’s dream.

“Yes, exactly,” said the large man who was head of the military in this section of the galaxy. “And something is happening there?” 

Annie appreciated the general trying to get Seren and Mother back on topic.

“Yes,” said Mother and when no one said anything she continued, “Suns have fantastic powers. When a star explodes, everything it’s made of gets scattered, but eventually enough of it comes back and starts a new star. That means that the stars in the Milky Way have died and been reborn so often that their powers are closer to a god.”

“That’s ridiculous,” said Jan. “There’s no such thing as a god.” The Children of the Stars didn’t believe there was a deity, but they did believe in being reborn.

The Mother sighed, something that sounded strange from a digitised voice, and said, “Powers like a god not an actual god. Either way, one of them is screaming for help.”

Everyone stood in silence until Annie asked, “Why is a sun that has god-like powers asking for help from us?”

“He says that the other suns have banded together to destroy him and his people. He says there are two trillion people that will die.” The Mother sounded sad and disgusted at the same time.

“How can we help?” asked Seren.

“I propose we send every ship at our disposal to help them out,” the Mother replied.

The general huffed and said, “That’s not up to you alone. We need to assemble the council for something this big. An emergency meeting can happen by tonight.” He marched off muttering about logistics.

When he was gone, Seren got a huge smile on her face and asked, “What’s the real plan?”

Annie and Jan looked at her confused but Mother replied, “The council will probably refuse. I have been working on a new ship design that is smaller but could hold a few hundred fighters and a small crew. I believe I could change it into a warship and repository of knowledge. We could help upgrade their technology, which is quite primitive from the datastream the sun sent.”

“How big is this datastream?” Seren asked excitedly.

“It’s a complete history of his people, only half a million years of data. I’ll send you the compressed files.” 

The answer and offer was enough to make Seren sit down. She made the face that Annie jokingly called, “acheologasm” and started to scroll through the data.

Annie rolled her eyes and said, “If the council says no then who’s going on the ship?” She knew the answer but had to ask. The Children of the Stars had been ruled for ten thousand years by the Technomages who had been generous but brutal. When they’d found the Mother of All Stars, they’d briefly treated her as a new ruler. Mother had found the idea horrifying and they’d worked on a form of democracy. There was a ruling council but any major decisions could be voted on instantly through the star-communication network.

Jan sighed, “Whoever volunteers.”

The three friends looked at each other and nodded in agreement. They’d volunteer.Well, I wanted something exciting, thought Annie.

Read Chapter 3

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