New Horizon (The Survivors Book Nine) Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright ©

  Books by Nathan Hystad

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  The Academy (The Survivors Book 10)

  Nathan Hystad Newsletter

  The Resistance Series

  Copyright © 2019 Nathan Hystad

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Cover art: Tom Edwards Design

  Edited by: Scarlett R Algee

  Proofed and Formatted by: BZ Hercules

  Books By Nathan Hystad

  Keep up to date with his new releases by signing up for his Newsletter at www.nathanhystad.com

  Nathan’s books are also available on Audible!

  The Survivors Series

  The Event

  New Threat

  New World

  The Ancients

  The Theos

  Old Enemy

  New Alliance

  The Gatekeepers

  New Horizon

  The Academy

  The Resistance Series

  Rift

  Revenge

  Return

  Lights Over Cloud Lake

  Red Creek

  Return to Red Creek

  One

  “Where did this footage come from?” the Inlor military leader asked through my earpiece translator.

  Terrance stood at the table and pressed a finger onto its surface. “We’ve said it already. These aliens have attacked Haven not once, but twice now.”

  The tall, slender uniformed Inlorian didn’t change his stoic impression. “But… they haven’t attacked in how long?”

  Terrance was obviously growing tired of this charade. I raised a hand, and he sat down, shoulders hunched over.

  “Etar Nine, we appreciate all you and your people have done for the Alliance of Worlds, we do, but Haven is the linchpin to our success as a team. We’re leaving soon… I’m leaving, and I need to ensure the safety of Haven in our absence. The Bhlat and Keppe have already offered a substantial number of vessels to defend the planet. Will Inlor do the same?” I was perched in a chair inside the professors’ lounge at the Gatekeepers’ Academy.

  There were only a few of us in the room, and I glanced at the Supreme of the Padlog. His tiny hands rubbed together like a fly’s, and he spoke before Etar Nine could.

  “Dean Parker, we were there for the attack some time ago and apologize for not helping more since then. We’ll send six Padlog vessels from Volim at once,” the small Padlog ruler said.

  I smiled widely. “Thank you, Supreme. That’s amazing. We appreciate the assistance.”

  “This Alliance is in all of our best interests. We would like slots in your school for twenty of our brightest, instead of the ten we’d agreed to, in exchange,” the Supreme said.

  There was always a catch when dealing with intergalactic aliens. Terrance tensed beside me, but I shook my head slightly. “Deal.”

  The Supreme appeared surprised, like he’d thought I was going to negotiate. The truth was, if we lacked the proper protection for Haven, there would be no school to speak of.

  “What of us?” Etar Nine of the Inlorians asked. His six arms crossed in pairs across his chest and abdomen. The four lower arms ended with clawed hands, and I wondered, for a moment, how strong they were.

  “From my records, you haven’t enrolled any of your people into the Academy,” Terrance suggested.

  “We would like to. We’d like… twenty as well,” Etar said, blinking at the small insectoid leader beside him.

  Before I accepted, I had to try one more thing. “That is most reasonable, but we’re still trying to pay off the repairs from the attacks. Would you be willing to ship one case of Inlorian bars with your first batch of students?” The bars were the thing wars started over; they were so valuable. The Inlor were being helped by the Alliance to ensure their production safety, and it was time for them to scratch our backs a little. I glanced at the claws again, and knew I needed to rethink my metaphors.

  Etar Nine stared hard at me, his eyes small and dark. “Very well. You have a deal.”

  “Thank you for coming.” I stood, and glanced at the hologram projection we had playing at the end of the table. It was paused on one of the black V-shaped ships that had attacked us, and I cringed as I thought of the very human-like aliens inside. Who were they?

  Etar Nine left the room, and the Supreme started away, his guards flanking him. He stopped and turned to face me. “When are you departing?”

  “In a week. Will you be attending the send-off?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “I regret I’ll be almost home by then. Perhaps we shall see one another again, Dean Parker. Are you sure you’re up for the boring life of a ship’s captain?”

  I laughed. “I’m not the captain. Magnus is.”

  “Magnus… the one who won’t stop going on about the nectar from home?” he asked.

  “The one and the same,” I said with a grin.

  “In that case, enjoy your holiday. You’ve done something special here. Let’s make sure we keep it that way,” the Supreme said, glancing past me at Terrance, who nodded.

  When the tiny insectoid leader was gone, I flung myself into a chair and sank into it, feigning exhaustion. “That was trying,” I said.

  Terrance was laughing. “Dean, you’re unbelievable. You gave away forty slots to our school,” he said.

  “I know. Is that bad?” I asked.

  “No. I was going to offer them thirty each. Room isn’t a problem. We have dorms for up to a thousand,” he told me. “And you somehow snuck a case of Inlorian bars in the deal, along with a veritable defense fleet to protect us. I’m going to miss having you around.”

  “A fleet, and enough money to continue your trade and work here on Haven. That’s all in a day’s work. What do you think? Are they returning?” I asked, not having to say who they were.

  He nodded. “You know we’ve spotted scouts over the last year and a half. They’ll be back. But we’ll be ready for them when they come.”

  “Have you learned anything more about them?” I asked. I’d recently come from Earth and hadn’t had time to be filled in before rushing to this meeting. I hated being unprepared.

  “Not much. No one knows where the hell they came from or who they are. We’ve been blamed a few times for having a rogue group of humans, but we all know these aren’t our humans attacking us. They’re… something else.” Terrance stood up and crossed the room. “What good professors�
� lounge isn’t equipped with something to drink? Want a beer?”

  I nodded, accepting the cool bottle. “This Academy is amazing now, and I was impressed on my first tour. Are you going to be ready for the first day?”

  Terrance appeared to age a few years at the question. “There’s so much going on here. With the influx of new residents, and the refugees from Plinton’s Rock, we’re up to our gills in paperwork and planning issues. Leslie and I haven’t had a night to ourselves in weeks. Maybe months.”

  I took a sip and set the bottle on the table. “You know you can still come with us on the Horizon.”

  “Dean, you know we can’t. Haven is our home, our baby, and there’s no one else to pick up the slack,” he said.

  “You’d be surprised how resilient people can be. I know you’re working on completing the Board. Maybe it’s time you finish that project and delegate to them,” I suggested.

  Terrance sank into his chair. “You’re right. We need to release some of the workload. Dean, I miss having you here. How was Earth?”

  I’d been there for almost a year, with a few trips to New Spero to visit with Magnus and the family. Slate and Loweck had split their time between the two planets, and in the last six months, all of them had been living on Haven for the final sprint to complete Horizon.

  “It was… really good,” I told him.

  “Really good? That’s your answer?”

  “Jules has a horse,” I said, remembering the first ride she’d taken on Zebra. She’d cried, then laughed, and by the end, hadn’t wanted to go inside.

  “How’s Paul?” Terrance asked after the man I’d met in Central Park. He was in charge of our colony in North America.

  “He’s doing well. The cities are quite prosperous,” I said, taking another sip.

  “And the Bhlat?”

  “The Empress is still there. God knows why she chooses to reside in Egypt when she has twenty other worlds she could live on. She’s an enigma wrapped in a… you get my drift,” I said.

  The truth was, I’d hardly spent any time in the cities while we were back home. Mary and I had decided to let Jules be a little girl, and to rest at my parents’ old house. I’d resisted going to the storm shelter below the house to check on my time-travel device and other hidden treasures. I knew they were fine; safely tucked away. It had been one of the best years of my life, and I was mentally preparing to tell Magnus we couldn’t come with them. I wasn’t sure how he’d take it.

  “I, for one, am glad that humans have managed to not only survive the Kraskis’ attack and the Deltras’ betrayal, but also spread out among the stars. You guys have tenacity, I’ll give you that.” Terrance lifted his beer bottle, and I tapped it.

  I leaned in and spoke quietly. “Weeds have tenacity too, Terrance. I only hope we can be better than we were before the Event.”

  “Things are good now,” he said.

  “I know. But people always band unanimously for a cause; then things calm down and true natures come out. Patel and the other mayors on New Spero have been dealing with a lot of trouble this last year,” I advised.

  “I heard. Riots at Terran Nine. Working conditions?” he asked.

  “That’s what I’m told. Anyway, no matter what we do, there’ll be issues, and we’ll need to have bureaucracy and rules, as well as empathy and compassion, but also a firm hand. It’s not an easy balancing act.” I took my empty bottle and accepted Terrance’s, heading for the edge of the room.

  The door slid open and I heard a familiar voice. “Dean, are you coming?” Suma asked. She was nearly bouncing off the ground.

  “Where?”

  “Just come with me. You’re going to want to see it,” she said, and Terrance smiled at me. He knew what this was all about.

  “You enjoy. I’m going to finish some work before our big dinner tonight. See you soon, Dean. And…” He stuck his hand out. “Thanks for coming today and helping negotiate. These guys love having Dean Parker in the room when decisions are being made.”

  I shook it but grimaced at his words. “There’ll be a day I can’t be in the room. They know that, right?”

  He might have taken my statement wrong, because his brow furrowed in a frown. “You’ll be around for a long time.”

  I would be, but not as an active part of the colonies. I was hanging up my hat. I didn’t tell him that; I just smiled and nodded, following an excited Suma out of the room.

  “Suma, hold up,” I said, jogging to match her pace. “What about Mary and Jules?”

  “They’re already there,” she said, leading me through the hallways toward the exit. The floors were shiny, polished white and immaculate. On the walls were plaques with each Alliance of Worlds member’s symbol from the portals, and if they didn’t have a portal on their planet, we had an artist rendition of their world. The final result was spectacular.

  “Dean, there’s no time for that,” Suma said, and I realized I had paused, staring at the symbol for Earth.

  “I’m coming.” We left the Gatekeepers’ Academy and made for a lander at the far edge of the cobblestone pathway. “Where are we going?”

  “Horizon,” Suma answered.

  Of course. The ship’s construction and modifications were completed, and they wanted to show us the finished product. Mary and I had talked long and hard about going, but in the end had decided we were better off raising Jules on Earth. At least, that was my take on it. Mary was on the fence.

  We entered the lander, and an unfamiliar man sat in the pilot’s seat. He nodded at me silently and lifted off the ground.

  “I can’t wait,” I said, but truthfully, I felt a rock settling into the pit of my stomach. This was a new chapter for the gang, and so many of my closest friends would be leaving in a week. It would be ages before I saw them again.

  “There’s something you’re going to love on board,” Suma said, her small snout flipping fervently.

  I noticed she wasn’t wearing a uniform. “Suma, you look great! What’s different?” I asked.

  She took the compliment without preamble. “Nothing. I’m not wearing a jumpsuit, for starters.”

  “There’s something else,” I told her, but couldn’t put my finger on it.

  Suma pointed out the viewscreen. “Stop. We’re almost there.”

  We lifted through Haven’s atmosphere, and eventually found ourselves in orbit. There was something about traveling into space in one of the landers without an EVA on that made my blood run cold, and I pressed the fear to the side, closing my eyes tightly for a moment. When I opened them, I spotted the immense ship in orbit.

  “It’s beautiful,” I whispered, unable to keep the thought to myself. It truly was a sight.

  “What do you think?” Suma asked as we neared the vessel. Horizon. It was everything I’d imagined, and more, when we’d first thought of the idea while working on rescuing the stranded Gatekeepers a year and a half ago. I couldn’t believe it was done already. Time was flying by too quickly.

  “I think this is going to be one heck of a ride for the next few years. Magnus must be thrilled,” I said.

  We moved toward the docking bays, this one labeled Hangar One, and entered the belly of the exploratory ship through a blue energy barrier. The pilot landed us on the empty side of the room, and we exited, giving him our thanks.

  I’d been on Starbound, a Keppe exploration ship, as well as Fortune, but this was next-level. The hangar was thirty meters tall, and small vessels from different races were inside on the far edge. A Kraski ship, a Padlog one, and an Inlorian vessel all sat there in a row.

  “This is only the garage, Dean. Come on.” Suma led the way, her shoes soft against the metal floor. My boots clanged out, and I noted at least three armed guards inside the hangar. One nodded to me as we arrived at the doorway, and I smiled at her. Magnus was already running a tight ship.

  The door opened onto a corridor. The walls were light gray, smooth and sleek.

  “Which way?” I asked. A man appr
oached us, and I noticed he was in uniform. Dark blue pants, matching long-sleeved button-up blue shirt; an image of a sun rising beyond the horizon was stitched into the breast.

  “Dean Parker?” the man asked.

  “That’s me,” I told him.

  “I’m Ensign Terry Long. Pleased to meet you,” he said, shaking my hand.

  “Terry,” I said in return.

  “Sorry, right this way.” Terry was flushed, excited.

  We followed Terry down the corridors, and I noticed how each section was buzzing with activity. Uniformed crew members were spread over the halls. We walked by a commercial kitchen and the doors swung open, revealing at least twenty workers inside preparing food. The sheer effort it took to feed, maintain, and run a starship was immense.

  “Is the ship fully loaded with crew already?” I asked.

  Suma took this one. “Already? It’s been full for a month now. We’ve been living here like we’re traversing the stars. Think of it as a test run in orbit. It’s better to have any issues here than in the middle of dark space.”

  We were still moving, and we eventually entered an elevator. It was round and had glass walls, allowing us to look out at the floors as we lifted. We stopped a minute later, the doors sliding open upon our arrival.

  Terry led us forward, and I could hear voices carrying throughout the level. The corridor ended, and we entered a huge open space in the center of the ship. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen. The air was humid, and plants circled the entire edges of the space. The ceiling was clear, giving us a view of the stars in the distance, and the room was at least a hundred meters tall. To my right was a water feature, pouring from halfway up the wall into a calming pool; a concrete bench ran along beside it.

  My breath was stuck in my throat. “What do you think?” Suma asked.

  “It’s… how did they do this?” I choked out. It was better than great. It was the nicest courtyard I’d ever seen, let alone on a spaceship.

  “We figured the crew would need a comforting place to relax if we’re going to be away for a few years,” a voice boomed from behind me. I spun around to see Magnus, wearing a crisp blue Horizon uniform. Little Dean ran over to me and gave me a hug, and Patty was right behind him.