Ilucuille: Talnar, Book 1> First Moves

Welcome to the Sci-Fi epic: Ilucuille, anyway, this is my frist book. I dont think its as good as the second, which is currently in the works. But yeah... tell me what you think... this is for all those Star Trek or Stargate SG-1 fans, Its sci-fi, but I try to make it "close to home" instead of "way-out there".

NOTE: About the languages, they're all translated to english, so any word that they use, if your wondering "How did they get that word on a foriegn planet?" its all translated to english, and what is unmentioned in this book is that earth has a Universal Translator, thus the Talnarians of the "Endless Star" are able to undertand them.

Anyway, here it is: Book 1 of the Talnar series

CHRONICLE ONE: NO GREATER LOVE [Endless Star Part 1]
YEAR: U.A. 01
LOCATION: TALNAR


The Sniper looked silently through the scope on his rifle, he was watching for his target, the pilot of the Endless Star, He watched through the computerized scope, eying the boarding ramp to the vessel, the targeting reticule moved around on its own, scanning for any possible targets, it had the pilot's DNA locked into his rifle and was now waiting. The AUM (Anti-Universal Movement) had hired him, a professional killer, to eliminate the pilot of the Endless Star. Most Talnarians wouldn't act like this by nature, they where normally like a cat, peaceful until pushed into aggression. But some, like this, harbor a deep hatred for any who disagree with them. There are few of this kind of Talnarian, but they are ruthless, it is believed to have been caused by an unknown genetic strain that was introduced, probably about 40 years before.
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Revio, the pilot of the Endless Star was just suiting up for his flight. This would be one of the biggest technological innovations in the history of Talnar, the Endless Star was the first inter-system vessel the Talnarians had built, which meant that it would be able to travel at speed's fast enough to reach other systems. The time would soon come, when the Talnarians would find out if there was other life in the universe.
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The waiting killer grew tense, twenty more minutes and his prey would be boarding the vessel. Sweat sprouted from his palms. The rifle that he had was common now, all he had to do was select the target and it would do the aiming for him. The AUM (Anti Universal Movement, the group of genetically incorrect Talnarians, who do not want space to be explored, believing it to be a sort of Pandora's Box) had taken this rifle from the Military's storage in a raid the a few weeks before, it had cost them three lives.
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"Hey, Buddy!" Daug [Pronounced (Dee-au-j)] said to Revio as he walked into the room, Daug was the commander of the Marines on the exploration team. The TSF had already selected three planets for exploration before the Endless Star was to return.
"Hi Daug" Revio said happily to his best friend, the two had been friends since they where kids, Daug choosing a life in the Military, to protect people from the genetic strain that caused Talnarians to go strangely out of nature, and Revio choosing to explore the galaxy. When Daug was revived the highest Military Honor, one of the engineers of the Endless Star project was at the ceremony and was impressed at his courage and honor. Two weeks later, Daug was recruited for the defense phase of the exploration.
"Kids doing okay?" Revio asked Daug as he zipped up the white space suit.
"Yeah, they said to say hi to their Uncle Revio. Can you believe that they still think that you're their uncle?", The two suited up and stepped out onto the ladder.


The sniper's hands sweated even more as he gripped the handle. He leaned forward a little, he was on the roof of the control center, he could hear the sound of the chatter coming from the main room directly below him. The handle of his rifle was drenched in sweat. He leaned forward as the he saw the Chief Marine and the pilot walking up the boarding ramp.
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Revio and Daug walked out to the on ramp for the Endless Star. Daug could hear the Security teams chattering in his communicator, located inside his helmet. Revio wore a big smile on his face as he walked up the ramp, he had been looking forward to this mission ever since he was a small child. Daug, knowing that this would spark another war between the AUM and the Talnarian Marines, was not so happy about this. He would not be here this time, to protect his Homeworld.
"Enemy Sniper Located!" Came a sudden call from the security force into Daug's helmet. "He's on the roof, targeting the pilot!".
"Bring him down!" Daug yelled into his communicator as he began to rush Revio up the ramp to the ship.
"Cant, He's jamming our Sensor Rifles!" The security team responded. There was a sudden shot as Daug moved himself between the sniper and Revio. The shot blew him onto the ground and on top of Revio. It was a clean shot, an instant kill.
"What was that?" Revio asked as he pushed Daug off of himself, not realizing he was dead. "Daug?" he asked again. No answer, then he saw it. The burn mark where the rifle had hit Daug, square in the heart. There was another shot, the sniper fell from the roof and Revio turned, tears in his eye's to see one of the Security force officers behind him, with his pistol in hand. Medic's moved in and pulled Daug's limp body out of the on Ramp.
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"Postponing the launch until a new officer can be found" Came the call into Revio's communicator.
"We cant! That's just what the AUM wanted!" Revio called back, "I have an officer for you". He turned to the Security officer and looked at him.
"That was one great shot" He said "Do you think you can handle the threat in space?". The officers Eye's got big as baseballs.
"Yes sir!" He said. He was ecstatic.
"Suit up!" Revio said "We leave in five minutes"

Chronicle 2: The Star Goes On [Endless Star Part 2]
Year: U.A. 01
Location: The Endless Star

The Endless Star, cruised through space. Only moments ago it had launched, with its new, short notice, head of Marines, Meldir, he was a soldier of the elite security unit "Omega". He had gone through the same training that most of the Marines had to get into his position. Most of the Marines looked down on "Omega" members because after time, most of them lost their skill.
The Endless Star was a relatively small ship, able to carry forty passengers at a maximum, though only twenty nine where traveling aboard it. There where the three command officers, Revio; the Pilot of the ship, Laeg (Lay-j) who is the co-pilot.
Then there where the seven Scientists and Archeologists who where there under the circumstances that they where to find any signs of civilization or scientific marvels. Then of course, there where the ten Marines for defense and military situations.
The last ten where a group of technicians and engineers, who where supposed to be able to repair most of the damage that could come to the ship.
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Revio and Laeg sat in the cockpit, the ship was on auto-pilot, so all they had to do was sit back.
"I'm gonna get something to eat" Laeg said as she unstrapped herself from her chair. Revio was silent, he had taken a great shock from the loss of his friend. Daug had died to save his life.
Laeg made her way through the ship, it had artificial gravity so she could walk with ease. Within moments she had reached the kitchen and found herself a suitable dinner, she sat down at the table and began to eat. As she did Meldir walked in, she looked up and smiled.
"Hey!" she said cheerfully, "So your our new head of military affairs huh?"
"Huh?" Meldir said obviously caught off guard, "Oh yeah" he said sheepishly
"Well have a seat, I need to get to know you better if where going to work together". Meldir grabbed a glass of water and sat across the table from Laeg.
"So how are the Marines taking it? A new commander I mean." Laeg asked
"I don't think they like me very much, I don't know if its just that I'm with Omega or if its me"
"Hey don't worry, you took the same training as they did right?"
"Yeah, about a year ago"
"And you haven't forgotten it?" Laeg asked as she took another bite of her dinner. Meldir could tell what she was saying, most of the Marines looked down on Omega because of their loss of training.
"No, I took the refresher course every month"
"Then good, I'm sure that you will fit in quite well" Laeg said, smiling and getting up. She set the plate from her dinner in the auto-washer.
"Let them get to know you. Trust me, they will come to respect you" With that, she walked out and left Meldir sitting at the table.
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That night, in the Marine barracks Meldir sat, writing a letter on his computer to his parents back home.
"Hey! Any of you guys up for a little game of valtar?" one of the Marine's asked. Several hands went up, including Meldir's.
Valtar was a board game, similar to chess but played with three to ten people. The Marine's sat around the table. Each of them set up their pieces.
"So your our new chief?" One of the Marine's asked.
"Yeah" Meldir said as he took his first move on the game.
"You think you can handle yourself out there? Its not like you're a Marine or anything"
"I've had the training and took the refresher course every month" Meldir said "Plus I have tactical and sniper training" The marines was shocked.
"And you work for Omega?"
"Yes"
"Wow, I never expected to hear that out of an Omega soldier" The marine said. Meldir carried on the chat with the Marines for the continuation of the game, afterwards he finished his letter and went to bed. He guessed now, that he would fit in a lot better.

Chronicle 3: Into the Unknown [Endless Star Part 3]
Location: The Endless Star
The Next Morning

Laeg walked into the Cockpit and found Revio, still in his chair, asleep. He was being held in the seat by his buckle. That's a sorry sight she thought. She tapped him on the shoulder.
"Sir, why don't you go get some sleep" she said. Revio awoke, and replied sleepily
"Yeah, how long until we reach uncharted space?"
"Five hours"
"Wake me up then" He said, he unbuckled himself and walked out of the room wearily. Laeg sat down into the Pilot seat and started pushing buttons on the monitors. Five hours until they reached uncharted space, no Idea what would be out there. She wanted to be prepared. She made sure that the weapons and shields where functional and that the ship was in perfect running order. She turned on the ships intercom system and punched in the Marine room.
"Marines" She said with much dignity "This is your Co-Pilot Laeg, we have five hours until we reach uncharted space, the unknown barrier. I expect you all to be monitoring the situation as we cross into the system, within five minutes of the cross our sensors will give us a new scan and more information. I would then like your commander and one of you to help me with the satellite that we are to set up." She stopped talking and leaned back, the satellite was so that everyone back home could get a sensor read as far out as they where. The computers could handle setting it up, but she considered it good for the crew to do it themselves, this meant going outside in a space suit and setting it up manually.
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The crew all waited, doing things to their leisure until the time came when the Endless Star would reach uncharted space. They knew that they would not get much time like this, time to do what they wanted. Most of the flight would be taken up by the work of the mission.
The Talnarian government had discovered three years before, that there where at least three other planets in the galaxy. This discovery came by an archeologist who found ancient tablets telling of a visitation by angels who came riding in clouds of fire. The tablets told of the exact special location of the three planets. The Space Program was taking a big leap of trust by sending its first ship to find out whether or not these planets existed. Although that trust may have come from a very luxurious payment made by some persuasive people who wanted the planet theory to be proven. Now it would be, or it would be disproven. The answer was yet to come.

Laeg ran quickly down the hall towards Revio's quarters, almost running into one of the marines. She slammed on doorbell and stood waiting for Revio to answer. She waited over a minute and grew impatient. She had come to tell him that they would be crossing into uncharted space within 5 minutes. The door slid open and Revio stood there, still looking tired.
"Sir!" Laeg said, caught a little off guard. She had never seen him look like this before. "We are crossing into uncharted space in under three minutes!"
"Alright, to the bridge" Revio said, pulling his jacket over top of him.

Laeg and Revio sat in their seats, watching the monitors. The sensor panels showed the area around the ship, showing anything near it. They would suddenly go blank once the ship crossed the border. No satellite was able to detect anything this far out. The ship was now two minutes away from crossing the border. The two waited. The one minute point wriggled its way in. Then thirty seconds came. Ten seconds, Revio looked at Laeg,
"Here we go!" he said. There was a sudden zap sound as the sensor monitor went blank.
"This is not a drill!" Laeg said into the com system "Meldir and one marine of his choice are to report to the cargo bay immediately!"
Laeg got up and left to meet the marines, telling Revio to get more sleep on her way out.

Chronicle 4: Testing Skills [Endless Star Part 4]
Location: On Board the Endless Star
Moments Later

Meldir and one other marine walked into the cargo bay where the satellite was stored. Each of them had environmental space suits on.
"All right" Laeg said "Lets get this satellite set up, anything could be sitting right out there and we wouldn't know it" She sealed her helmet on her envirosuit and hit the button to open the cargo bay doors. Everything but the satellite and the crew was secured to the floor. Meldir, Laeg and the other marine pushed the satellite out slowly, there was a slight zoop sound as the magnetic boots locked onto the floor with each step. The three pushed the satellite out and began to walk on the hull of the ship. Each of them had pistol holstered to their leg, though all of them doubted that they would need to use it. Sound seemed to echo, not at all like Meldir had imagined space.
Each suit was equipped with a neural uplink, a system which was connected to the brain, which enabled the user to control the propulsion systems on the suit without difficulty. The three of the team moved the satellite into position. Laeg flipped a switch that engaged the anchor system, which would keep the satellite from drifting away.
"Okay" Laeg said motioning to the marine. "Do you know how to set up a satellite?" The marine slowly nodded.
"Good, your going to be our ranking satellite official. Its basically a fancy term meaning that you can boss the satellite technicians around." The marine smiled at that. He would have fun with his new assignment.
"Set it up!" Laeg said. The marine began to work. Meldir and Laeg both looked around. This was the first time Meldir had seen the ship outside in space. It was also his first time in space. It was amazing, he had never imagined that he would ever be here.
"Got it!" the marine said. Laeg smiled then turned on her communications to the ship.
"Endless Star, this is Recon-1, mission complete." She said
"Good job, engaging sensor systems" came Revio's voice through the comm. Suddenly Revio's voice came back, this time more urgent.
"Get inside now!"

Chronicle 5: Unfriendly Skies [Endless Star Part 5]
Just outside of Talnarian Space
5 minutes later.

Laeg rushed into the cockpit of the Star, as the marines had nicknamed it. Meldir had already put his men on alert, incase anything where to happen.
"What do we got?" Laeg asked, as she sat down in her chair at the console. Revio looked at her, there was a certain aspect of fear in his eye's.
"Three ships, they're big" He said, his hands where trembling on the control stick.
"Other ships!" Laeg exclaimed, it had finally been proven, other life was out there. This would change a lot of things on Talnar. Including the war with the AUM. Laeg brought up the diagram of the ships on the control panel. There wasn't too much information, it would take about an hour for the satellite to get a full reading on it. But it already had the hull design and the size of the ship on the schematics.
"They're gigantic!" Laeg said, "About the size of a small country!"
"They see us!" Meldir said, "They're firing something!". There where many small blips suddenly appearing on the radar. They where closing in extremely fast.
"Those aren't weapons!" came Laeg's conclusion "They're fighters!" She slammed on the alert button. "All crew to special battle stations! This is not a drill, we need men in the turrets now!"

Meldir and his men moved quickly down the corridors into the gunnery rooms. There where 10 pulse cannons on each side of the ship. The marines each manned one. The weapons fired high powered electric charges, capable of doing extreme damage to almost any material.

"Hold your fire!" Laeg said into the intercom, she wanted to find out whether or not these ships where friendly, although she suspected that they where not. The fighters continued moving. There was suddenly a burst of energy from one of them. Revio jerked the control stick to the side to dodge the blast. The laser zoomed past them and into the abyss of space.
"Fire!" Laeg yelled.

Meldir heard the call into his intercom.
"This is Burst Pod 01", Meldir called to the rest of his men. "Open fire!" There was a sudden flash as the pulse cannons began to open fire on the fighters. The fighters burst into flames as they swooped in. It became difficult to aim because of Revio's turning to avoid the shots of the fighters.
"It looks like they don't have energy shields!" Meldir said "We have the advantage"

Revio tried to dodge the shots but it was difficult, every now and then a shot would hit the ship and weaken the shields.
"We cant take too much of this!" Laeg said as she began rerouting power from the recreation room to the engines.
"Those ships are carriers, or so it would seem" Revio said, "They probably have lots more where this is coming from". Laeg sighed, she looked at the console, there wasn't much for her to do in this kind of combat situation. The energy shields where now down to 60%, once it was below fifty, it wouldn't block most of the shots.
"We've gotta jump to hyper space!" Laeg said
"We cant, we're blind out here!" Revio said "If we jump, we will have no Idea where we are, we'll be out of satellite range in about 0.5 seconds"
"Its better than here, if we don't we're dead". Revio continued moving the ship to avoid the shots, but the fighters where small and nimble. Within no time, the shields where at 50%.
"Do it!" Revio said, "But drop the black box". Laeg punched the button and the ship jumped into hyper space. The Endless Star was now lost in space.



Chronicle 6: Friends and Enemies [Union, Part 1]
Location: U.E.A. Space, Aboard the Endless Star.
12 Hours after the Previous Chronicle.

Revio looked around the small cell. He had been imprisoned moments after the troops had seized the Star after the jump. None of the crew was hurt as of yet. But the last Revio had heard was that the Marines where still on the ship, barricaded in the gunnery room. He thought that would put a slight throat grip on whoever was holding them captive. Laeg, as far as he knew, had avoided being caught and was somewhere aboard the Star. From his best guesses, he had just been taken aboard a military vessel. He hoped the rest of the crew was faring better than he was.

Meldir was covering the corner with his EP-Pistol. The Marines had already, minorly wounded several of the attacking soldiers. He was watching the hallway, which had now become the border between hostile and friendly territory. The aliens that he had wounded looked exactly like Talnarians*

*Talnarians are human. They look exactly as anyone from earth would. But they are, nonetheless, very different from the people of earth.

Two other marines helped Meldir cover the hallway. The others sat in the burst pods for the Ion Cannons. They kept their sights on the large ship across from them. It was different than the other ones they had run into. It looked more like a peaceful ship, there weren't any battle scars on it. Every now and then Meldir would hear a call from down the hallway from one of the enemy soldiers, telling them to come out with their hands on their heads. How the enemy could speak Talnarian, Meldir could not guess.


The doors suddenly burst open in Revio's cell as several guards came in. They dragged him out of the cell and stood him up outside. He was handcuffed and forced to follow them. Soon they reached a small room with a table in the middle. The room had an odd smell. The guards sat him down at the table and then all but one left.
"Are you pirate spy's?" He asked "Your ship certainly isn't fit for a fight through our space?"
"Let me make you a deal" Revio said, "You answer my questions and I will answer yours" The guard looked surprised at that offer.
"As long as that doesn't compromise our security, I can do that"
"Okay, me first" He said "Why have my crew and I been detained?"
"Your ship crossed into United Earth Alliance space. We detain any Pirate ships crossing into our space. Now my question, what planet are you from?" Revio was surprised at this question, if he this officer the location of the planet, it could mean war. Talnar definitely wasn't ready for a special war.
"Talnar" He said.
"Where is this… Talnar?"
"Ah! Its my turn now" Revio said cutting him off. "I would just like to say that my crew and I are not pirates"
"We will see." Said the officer, "There is a standard detention time of 24 hours"


Laeg rolled out from underneath the bed in her quarters. She had a hard time sneaking past the enemy troops in the ship. But she remained undetected. She hit the lock button on her door and walked over to her computer. She brought up the security camera systems on the ship. There where soldiers everywhere, suddenly she saw where Meldir's men where holed up in the pulse cannon room. She smiled, he was doing his job just fine. She hit the intercom button.
"Meldir, This is Laeg come in!"
"Laeg! Boy am I glad to hear from you! Where are you?"
"I'm at my quarters, they haven't found me yet. Listen, they've detained Revio and the rest of the crew. I'm going to try to get to the weapons locker."
"Ok, well we're kind of pinned down here"
"Yeah, I'll see what I can do"

Revio had been led back to his cell, where he stayed for a few hours. But suddenly the door swung open. The light shone a little too brightly in his eye's. A well dressed man walked in.
"You can come out now, I'm very sorry about this." He said
"Wh- what?" Revio stuttered.
"We've proven that you're not pirates. You're free to go" Revio stood up and walked past the man. He whispered a thanks as he walked out.
"What about my crew?" Revio asked.
"They'll be safe. Their holed up in a weapons room on your ship at the moment. We where hoping you would talk to them?"
"Yeah… I will" Revio said.

Minutes turned to hours, Revio had just explained that the people of a planet called Earth, where letting them go, that it was just a misunderstanding. But there was one problem. Laeg. No one had been able to find her, she had no idea that the people of earth weren't their enemies.

A U.E.A. guard was walking down the hall of the Endless Star, he had been on patrol for the past few hours. Suddenly he saw a figure running down the hall. He ran after the figure and yelled
"Freeze!". Laeg turned around, clutching the pistol. She took a shot and it hit the wall near the guard. But the guard's shot didn't miss, he squeezed the trigger on his rifle and Laeg fell to the ground.

"NO!" Revio yelled as they brought Laeg to the medical bay on the Earth ship. Meldir and one other marine came running into the room. Revio could see the tears in his eye's. He knew how Laeg had befriended him, when times seemed bad, Laeg was there for people, not just the ones she knew, but anyone.
"Is she going to be all right?" the marine standing next to Meldir asked. The doctor from earth looked up at him, he was trembling.
"I'm… not sure." he said "The wound is bad… I don't think she'll make it. But I can sure try!"



THIS ENDS TALNAR: BOOK 1