Chandeera Read online

  Chandeera

  Book I

  By Wolf Golan

  NOTE: If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events described herein are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Chandeera

  Copyright © 2018 Wolf Golan

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

  Edited by Jake George www.sagewordservices.com

  Printed by Sage Words Publishing www.sagewordspublishing.com

  Artwork credit: Image ID : 18023176 AdriennOrbánhegyi

  ISBN-13: 978-1-7329182-3-8

  ISBN-10: 1-7329182-3-6

  Chapter 1

  Maxwell Wilkes was a Native American man in the 24th Century.

  His ethnic group was still small, and it was hard to discern. He wore his hair parted to the side and his eyes radiated strength and deepness. He often looked at his square jaw, high cheek bones in the mirror and wondered if he looked like Native American men in ancient times. He felt like he stood out on most worlds, yet Max always loved to travel.

  The refreshing, cleansing, amped-up feeling never got old. Max made his way through throngs of humans and aliens at Shin Bay’s Spaceport 3. The travel-high was much welcomed, as it served to counter the painful uncertainty Alexandra Parks left in his life three days ago.

  After a fight in their apartment, she left off-world for a work assignment. Would she accept him back? At twenty-seven, it was hard to find a woman like Alex, and the love they had. Max’s plan was to move out of their apartment, leave Shin Bay, and meet her in mid-space, so they could return to earth together.

  His intense eyes stared ahead wondering about Alex, if she’d take him back or not. He slipped through the crowds lifting his suitcase high, walking sideways. The aliens smelled of frogs, but he ignored it and continued. He began weaving around groups and turned down an alleyway, which led to Dock 3.

  Max noticed the crowds consisted mostly of humanoids-human-looking aliens-or plain humans. He remembered the multi-limbed, bug-like aliens had their own section, not because of discrimination but to accommodate their bodies. His travel-high occasionally switched to relief, it felt ‘so’ good walking without gravity cleats. The bay had artificial gravity.

  The gravity was weak on planet Shin Bay and made gravity-cleats required, along with a mandatory weekly workout to prevent muscular atrophy. Max figured Alex was relieved to have left too. For eight months, they lived in Earth Colony 58A outside the mining city of Hax.

  “You are now entering Dock 3,” said the Computer Voice over the thunderous intercom, sending its voice over the lofty ceiling. Max and the travelers poured into an estuary-like entrance to the giant hall.

  It was a mountainous hall of windows and columns stretching into lofty ceilings. Max turned left to see the mountain peaks of Shin Bay, which the Space Port perched itself upon. Max turned right and there sat the Riven Space Liner in all its glory, covering the giant glass wall of Dock 3.

  It was a marvelous grand ship like that of the Ancient Titanic in Earth History. It was so big it had to be clamped to the side of the mountain.

  Max calmly walked across the smooth marble floor. Dock 3 was a lot more spacious than the congested terminal. He looked up at the numerous passengers riding the lines of escalators into the belly of the grand ship. He saw three levels of escalators going into the ship. He was on the bottom one.

  “Last Call for Riven Flight 325 at Docking Hall 3, Gate 4A-L, service to planet RI 56, planet Tesslin, Turden System, Alpha Centauri Mines, planet Earth, Loomis Moon Resort, and planet Craadin as the final stop.” The Computer Voice thundered over the hall.

  Max slipped his way through the crowds bunching in at the Gates. He looked up as he walked under the massive windows stretching stories high. He arrived at the gate and met a Cornelian Ticket Master, his tentacles tied behind his yellow-orange head, orange eyes.

  Max handed him his ticket. He scanned it. He nodded to Max and turned to the next passenger.

  Max continued past him and onto the escalators. He stood as it started up. He got impatient and started walking up, passing human travelers reading magazines and newspapers that had jumping images from articles.

  Max also saw children watching projected screens from their shoulder sets, tourists recording each other with their buttons, and business humans and humanoids in their slate cardigan jackets, along with United Earth Federation (UEF) personnel in their standard firebrick blazers.

  Max peeked over and saw the drop miles down into distant mists and rivers below. He looked up to see the giant ship arching over the entire sky. It was an unbelievably big ship.

  The escalator moved him to a door and brought him before a grey hallway. He threw his suitcase into a shoot by the door, which was supposed to take it to the overhead bin above his seat. He started down the hall and opened his ticket jacket.

  The ticket was a small screen giving the layout of the ship with a small arrow moving its way through. Max followed the arrow.

  He made his way down hallways and staircases, and more hallways until he came to Coach Sublevel 2, a large room with huge windows on each side, the sun shining through. Max saw four sections of seating with aisle numbers painted above the beams. Max figured the room seated hundreds.

  He found his designated seat, the row empty. He sat down and thought about stretching out.

  “Hello! My name is Wen Hilinger, your Ship Attendant for Couch Sublevel 2, we will now begin departure from Spaceport 3.” A seat belt shot across Max’s waist and fastened itself. Max heard the distant roar of the gigantic hyper jet engines.

  “Lord, bless my voyage home, and protect me, and Alex, amen.” Max whispered. He had fallen so far away from his Christian Faith, his late-Grandfather would not be happy. Max hoped reviving the faith would be a part of the life he and Alex, planned to restart back on earth.

  Max turned and saw a couple of human travelers some rows down, but remembered they may not be human, a lot of alien species like the Gors were humanoids-looked human but were not.

  A thunder rumbled the ship and startled Max, it was the Dock Clamp disconnecting. Riven now began to float, then, slowly ascended.

  Max peeked over to see the tops of the mountainous landscape. Riven turned and allowed Max to see the vast mountain peaks of Shin Bay with grassy valleys and lakes and ponds peppered among them.

  Max thought about the Yorins, Shin Bay’s most populous indigenous creatures. They were now encircled by cities or moved off resource-rich lands through force or bribery. The Galactic Assembly had always turned a blind eye to the greedy corporations, only when mass genocide occurred did they oppose development and stop the planetary developments.

  Shin Bay had two Interstellar Federation Mining Departments, thirty-four planetary construction guilds, and eight galactic corporations destroying its lands.

  The Yorins could not speak English and were not advanced enough to fight, so they were removed. Given his own history as a Native American, this did not sit well with Max Wilkes, in fact it haunted him through the whole eight months he lived there.

  He reminded himself he was there for Alex Parks, and only Alex, the Love of his Life.

  The ship ascended and ascended. It soon cleared the stratosphere and the sky turned to stars, Max smiled, he was in space. He turned left and saw Shin Bay’s twin moons in the distance. He leaned back and rela
xed.

  Riven flew into space for another twenty minutes until the Stewardess came on the intercom. “We’ve been cleared for Jump Point 3, please stay in your seats.”

  Riven began to vibrate and the jet engines thundered, the ship moved forward steadily. The ship blurred, time stopped, and a thrust knocked Max back, as it entered a wormhole. Outside the window, a flash of light displayed and then the ship was bathed in light-ribbons.

  They were now flying through hyperspace.

  Max gently closed his eyes and fell asleep.

  He awoke an hour later and looked outside to see the azure ribbons of hyperspace, they hadn’t arrived yet. He looked in his ticket jacket and checked the time for docking with Alex’s ship, 1 hour after the RI 56.

  After the fight in the apartment three days ago, Alex had left for planet Gai nay to do a feasibility report for a new mining outpost owned by her company.

  She would take the Moriah Space liner from Gai nay back to earth, and suggested Max take Riven from Shin Bay on Earth date April 24, 2342.

  “We’ll meet at the Docking, I can’t wait to see you, love Alex,” was all she wrote in a message to his comlink last night.

  Riven blasted out of hyperspace in a flash of light and bang with a small jolt. They came upon RI 56, a dead planet with numerous mining outposts dotting it. The Eastern Rim of the Milky Way was filled with mining planets, so it was appropriately named the Mining Quadrant.

  “For those of you stopping at RI 56, please follow Chanel back to the Lower Docking Bay for your shuttle.” Wen said over the intercom. Later, three huge shuttles were heard de-clamping from the bottom hull. Max looked out and saw them making their way down to RI 56.

  “We will be making another Jump to Hyperspace, please stay seated.” Wen instructed. Riven then went back into hyperspace with a smaller jolt this time, Max fell asleep.

  Sometime later, Max awoke and finished a cup of water pushed up from the arm of his seat. He put it down and the cup was sucked back into the arm through a hole. Max got up and walked down the aisle to the hallway. He came out and stretched, moving his neck around. He walked down the white hall and came before a wall terminal. He punched in some keys and read;

  .

  20 minutes until rendezvous with Moriah Liner to board passengers.

  Max nodded at the text and started back to his seat.

  He got back to his seat and sat down. The Stewardess Wen walked by him smiling, a human woman.

  Riven blasted out of hyperspace.

  Max looked out and saw them approaching the Moriah, a ship almost identical to the Riven in size.

  “We have reached our sister Liner the Moriah. We will be docking in ten minutes to board more passengers. We will then be on our way shortly, thank you.” Wen said.

  The seat belt shot itself from across Max’s waist. He was free to move about. He got up and started out.

  Max walked speedily through the hallway to the Bridge-Connect, losing his balance when the ship jolted from the clamping. He regained it and continued.

  He reached the bridge and saw the crowds beginning to stream into hallway where he stood. Two mean Rylacian Guards stood on each side of the door, ensuring a safe docking.

  Max searched the crowds for a beautiful, skinny, brown-haired Tsimshian woman.

  He soon spotted her in the crowd calmly walking, and holding her bag over her shoulder, speaking with two coworkers. She had her brown hair down and wore her casual crimson vest over a tight black shirt with light blue wrangler. Max had on his brown jacket, dark blue shirt, and grey pants with his boots.

  Alex saw him and beamed with happiness. Max returned the excitement by lighting up and quickly walking over.

  “Hey!” She yelled and hugged him. They parted and slowly kissed. She held him for a moment longer, not saying a word. Max knew then everything was okay.

  She turned to her cohorts holding Max.

  “Crew this is my boyfriend Max Wilkes.”

  A young, scrawny man and a teenage girl nodded to him with halfhearted smiles, trying to disguise their fatigue from the trip. The scrawny man extended his hand.

  “Hi J.T. Peterson,” he extended his hand,“ Engineering Officer for IMG.”

  “Hello, Max Wilkes.” He said grabbing his hand.

  The teen girl came forward with beautiful with long light-brown hair, glasses, and a nicely rounded face.

  “Hello, Dallas Zores, Computer Tech and Quadrant Surveys, College Intern for IMG-Interstellar Mining Guild.”

  “Wow! Heavy title,” Max replied, shaking her small hand.

  “I know right.” She said smiling.

  “This is my crew Max,” Alex said.

  Max nodded to her and then to them.

  “You people had better get moving!” The Rylacian Guard shouted in his coarse voice.

  Max nodded, and they started after the crowd, straggling behind. They caught up with them some ways down the hall. The jolt came, and Alex grabbed onto Max. The ships were now disconnected.

  After the long walk to Max’s section, they reached his seat. Alex sat by him, but Dallas and J.T. sat in the next row. Max reached over and kissed her. She leaned on his shoulder and closed her eyes to sleep. The ship vibrated and jolted forward, the time stoppage came and went, they were in hyperspace.

  # # #

  The ship blasted out and the stars blurred into focus outside the window. The jolt woke up Alex as she leaned up, blinking her eyes. Max had been up.

  “Hello, my name is Wen Hilinger, I’m your Ship Attendant for Couch Sublevel 2.” She said into her button link. “We’ve arrived at Turden, so if this is your departure, please make your way to the Lower Docking Bay for your shuttle.

  “We’ve had a change in Flight Plans. The main liner will not be stopping at Alpha Centauri Mines and Earth but will continue onto the Loomis Moon Resort. We apologize for this inconvenience.” Wen said into her button. “But you will make your flight with our Riven Shuttle number 5, so if you could please follow me, I will take you down to the Docking Bay.”

  “Great.” J.T. said distraught.

  Max turned to Alex. “It’s not a good idea they’re flying through here, the Unocks are daring and fierce fighters. I’ve seen them in action in the System Wars.”

  “You’re referring to the Rebel War?” J.T. replied, unfastening himself.

  “Yeah.”

  Alex only returned a semi-concerned look. They got up and walked down the aisle to meet Wen at the door. She led them out and down the hall.

  They went down a staircase and then another hall, before coming into the Docking Bay, a corridor of octagon shaped sliding doors. Wen came to one with the number 5.

  The door slid open and she gestured everyone in. “Docking Bay 4,” she said through her pin.

  Max and Alex entered, a bit begrudgingly.

  They came into a single seating section with no class section. Max walked to his seat: 15A, by the window. He shoved his bag in the overhead and sat down. Alex put her bag up and sat by him. J.T. sat by Dallas in the next row.

  Wen walked up to the head of the middle aisle. “Please keep your belts on, and there is one exit in the back and two emergency ones by each side, and…” She went on with the safety instructions. “…thank you everyone, have a safe trip back.” She bowed and started out. She walked up to the Docking Bay door and went out, the door slid closed behind her.

  Max looked around and saw the shuttle quarter-filled.

  The shuttle de-clamped from Riven with a thud, then moved its way into space. Max looked out the window and saw Riven’s giant hull, but it soon got smaller, as the shuttle distanced itself to make the Jump.

  Soon, Max saw the Riven Liner make the wormhole, a blue flash of light gleaned itself to life in mid-space before disappearing. The Riven had gone into Hyperspace.

  “Hello ladies and gentlemen, my name is Captain Thomas Broy, Employee Code: 45873. We apologize the Liner could not bring you folks to Alpha Centauri and Earth, the Star Lin
er Fleet has had budget cuts this year and can only service destinations with the heaviest travel.” He explained over the intercom. “But we’ll get you home don’t worry.” He giggled.

  “Typical.” Alex whispered Max smirked at her.

  The shuttle shook.

  Max looked out but saw no azure ribbons, they were not in hyperspace.

  A second shake followed by a blast and a thud. The ship was hit by a plasma gun.

  “We have an emergency situation, nothing to be alarmed about, we’re making the Jump now.” Captain Broy said, trying to sound calm. Riven 5 fired up its jet engines.

  “Jump in 5…4…3…2..1.” The Captain said.

  The shuttle formed the wormhole and went into it. The ship blurred, time stopped, and thrust the ship forward into the light-ribbons of hyperspace.

  They had made it.

  Chapter 2

  Riven 5 blasted out of hyperspace more acutely with shakes. It felt as if riding a lightning bolt for a split second, gleaming light all over ship and a loud, uncomfortable bang and jolt.

  The azure ribbons disappeared and stars blurring into focus.

  Max noticed something strange outside the window, no civilization.

  No spaceships, Steller docks, or space stations. Commercial and Passenger ships always came out to populated areas, this was strange.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen this is Captain Broy. We’re having a mechanical problem, nothing to be alarmed about, but we will have to make a temporary landing on a nearby planet, please bear with me and stay calm.” Capt. Broy said over the intercom.

  “Nothing to be alarmed about? Who is he kidding.” A voiced said from the back.

  Low chattering and sounds of concern erupted among the passengers. They felt the shuttle moving along with an occasional small shake, it didn’t feel right.

  Max looked out the window and made out a nearing planet. The shuttle shook again with a sound, scaring a few.

  “This is your Captain again. We will make a landing on the nearing planet. It is habitable, so please stay calm, we will land shortly.”