The Hiriculan Imposition: Book 4 of the Alliance Conflict Read online

  The Hiriculan Imposition

  Book 4 of the Alliance Conflict

  By Jeff Sims

  Best Wishes

  I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks to everyone that helped me with this book.

  © 2017 by Jeff Sims

  All rights reserved. No part may be copied or reproduced in any manner or by any means without prior written permission by the author.

  Cover Art

  http://www.designbookcover.pt

  ISBN: 978-1-64007-784-3

  The Hiriculan Imposition is a work of fiction. All names, places, characters, and events are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. For more information, visit www.allianceconflict.com

  Chart of known hyperspace lanes

  The chart shows the hyperspace connections and relative distances. It does not necessarily show the physical location of the system in space. The shaded ovals contain a planet with intelligent life. The ‘S’ Denotes a secret route and a secret, habitable planet.

  Many more systems have been charted, but only the ones relevant to the story are shown.

  Time Chart for hyperspace lanes

  From

  To

  Hours

  Advranki 1

  Advranki 2

  5

  Advranki 1

  Advranki 3

  6

  Advranki 1

  Altian

  6

  Advranki 2

  Advranki 3

  3

  Altian

  Solaria

  6

  Conron

  Advranki 1

  8

  Conron

  Earth (closed)

  33

  Conron

  Opron

  8

  Conron

  Solaria

  8

  Conron

  Uselon

  6

  Hepitila

  Dunron

  5

  Netron

  Hepitila

  6

  Netron

  Hiricula

  6

  Netron

  Neto

  8

  Neto

  Hiricula

  5

  Neto

  Influenla

  6

  Opron

  Influenla

  7

  Opron

  Netron

  6

  Opron

  Trilon

  2

  Uselon

  Waylon

  6

  Waylon

  Earth

  11

  Main Characters

  Advranki

  Carank – Brilliant Scientist

  Dolen – Admiral of the home fleet. Stationed on Guardian.

  Frank – Alliance Senate member

  Lexxi – Retired Alliance Naval Officer

  Solear – Admiral (in reserve)

  Altian

  Clowy – Retired Alliance Naval Officer

  Lorano – Brilliant scientist

  Korno – Alliance Senate member

  Human

  Amy Weisman – President of Victory Games

  Jim Donovan (Pinball) – Captain of the Sunflower

  Russ Brand (Rush) – Pilot of the Sunflower

  First Squadron - Edward Williams (Ace), Gus Swanson

  Alpha Squadron – Chris Armstrong (Kip), Ralph Dellman (Rubie)

  Engineers – Colin O’Neal, Becky Matthews, Ben, Mike, John

  Hiriculan

  Blifgot’ne (Bline) – Ambassador to the Alliance

  Fruid’la – Supreme Admiral in the Hiriculan Navy

  Punsno’we – (Ponwe) – Project leader for new office building

  Loid’pe – Sewage engineer, stationed in Solaria

  Lopeq’la – Former Admiral, pretending to seek asylum at Solaria

  Prued’mo – Disgruntled doctor, seeking asylum at Solaria

  Valod’la - sub-Admiral in the Hiriculan Navy

  Solarian

  Victor Bullpeep (Tyrano on Earth) – Captain of the mini-freighter Vista.

  Crista Bullpeep – Victor’s wife

  Jack Dogbarks – Captain of the mini-freighter Jackal.

  Baxter Bunnyhop – Solarian politician

  Contents

  Prologue

  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 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Prologue

  SETI Radar Observatory, Mountain View California, Earth.

  Dave Norris tapped his pencil on his desk. It was a bad habit and it bothered his coworkers. Fortunately though, he only did it when he was impatient or nervous. Unfortunately, at the moment he was both impatient and nervous.

  Dave felt a presence behind him. He turned around and saw that three of his fellow astronomers were staring at him. One of them motioned for him to set his pencil on his desk. Dave did as requested, but his nervous tension seemed to increase. He desperately wanted to tap his foot, but just barely restrained himself.

  Finally, the manager’s door opened. Dave stood up and walked toward her office. He paused for a moment at the threshold and verified that she was both in her office and alone. He had checked her calendar earlier and knew that she had an opening at this time.

  Emboldened, Dave walked into her office, sat down, and said, “Mary, I want to review my findings with you.”

  Mary looked at her screen. Dave could partially see it and could tell that she was checking her calendar. He could also see that it was completely blank for the next hour.

  Mary sighed and responded, “Yes Dave, how may I help you?”

  Dave handed her a flash drive. It was a newer one; it could hold 2 terabytes of data. However, he really didn’t need the large one because he had less than a gigabyte of data stored on it. Mary took the thumb drive and inserted it into her computer. Dave pointed to the file that he wanted her to open.

  They both watched in silence as a ship suddenly appeared beside the moon for 4 seconds and then just as suddenly disappeared. Dave had her play the short video twice more.

  Dave said, “This was recorded nearly four months ago. The observatory’s computer system identified it is a sensor glitch, but I don’t think that it was. I believe it is another instance of a pattern of mysterious events that I have been observing for the last while. This spot beside the moon appears to be a focal point of something.”

  Dave showed her all of his readings. Every six months, for the last few years, a glitch was recorded at that exact same location. Usually the glitch appeared as a negative image; meaning that the night sky in that small area was not visible for a few seconds. This was the first time that an actual image was detected.

  Mary said, “The ship, for lack of a better term, looks exactly like a cruiser from the Victory Games simulation. I took my son to see a real-life replica in Los Angeles last month. I think someone is playing a trick on you.”

  “No, it’s real! I know it!” Dave had partially risen from his chair when he spoke and said the words a little too loud for normal conversation. He realiz
ed that he was being a little too enthusiastic, so he sat back down and calmly said, “Sorry for the outburst. I don’t think this is some joke at my expense.”

  Mary asked, “Maybe Victory Games has an actual working replica. Did you contact them and ask if they have a cruiser in the area?” She laughed at the concept.

  Dave responded, “I did call them. They said that they didn’t have one, but if they did, they wouldn’t be at liberty to tell me.”

  Dave realized that the conversation was over. His evidence wasn’t strong enough yet to convince her that extraterrestrials were frequently visiting Earth. He knew that he needn’t bother to discuss the 40 missing pilots, the sudden disappearance of 16 workers at Victory Games, or several other strange occurrences and theories. He thanked her for her time and returned to his desk.

  Well, Dave thought, if she needed more data, then he would find it!

  He brought up the sensor images from last night and began intently studying them. About halfway through the file review he was rewarded. Five small sensor blips suddenly appeared at the edge of the solar system at perfectly spaced intervals. Then, a moment later they seemed to explode and disappeared completely from the scan.

  “Ah ha,” Dave exclaimed. “I found you, whatever you are!”

  Chapter 1

  Lorano and Clowy spent another 3 weeks investigating the pyramids on Altian-1. They didn’t find anything else of interest. There were no other words carved into the rock or any other feature that shouldn’t have been there.

  They had found little else since their profound discovery that almost 4,000 years ago their ancestors had changed the name of their race from Atlantean to Altian. The name change occurred shortly after their race made contact with the Advranki. The populace at the time felt that the name Atlantean projected superiority and shortened it.

  Lorano was frustrated by their lack of progress in finding a link between the humans and Solarians. He was convinced that his ancestors had, for some unknown reason, transported a group of settlers from Earth to Solaria. Then they built the settlers two energy pyramids in their soon to be capital, Sol City.

  Afterward, they may have constructed a third pyramid for some indeterminate use. Lorano had briefly inspected this pyramid, but was unable to determine it use. Further, he couldn’t even tell whether it had been built and used by the Altians or whether it had been built years later by the Solarians after the Altians left.

  However, Lorano had more evidence that he hadn’t shared with Clowy yet. A few months ago he and Carank found an uninhabited planet halfway between Earth and Solaria. The planet contained one structure, an Altian energy pyramid. Clearly the Altians had at one time occupied the planet or at a minimum visited the planet and stayed long enough to build a pyramid and a landing area.

  His current issue though was that he still hadn’t received a new project from the Academy of Sciences or even an acknowledgement that his current project to use gravity missiles to find the location of Old Solaria was completed. However, the most frustrating part of the whole situation by far was that Clowy needed his help to brush her hair.

  Lorano carefully ran the brush through the same spot exactly three times. He had been informed that two strokes weren’t enough and 4 were too many. Five was right out. He sighed to himself – he possessed the most brilliant mind in a generation (or two) and here he was, stuck brushing fake hair.

  Lorano switched to a different spot, ran the brush down and said, “It appears that this site holds nothing left for us to discover.”

  Clowy responded, “What site?”

  Lorano said, “This old Altian energy pyramid ruin. I don’t think it holds any more clues to the mystery of our race’s name change or the whole Human – Solarian question.”

  Clowy looked at her fingernails. They were colored mint lilac rose with a trace of orchid on the tips. However, Lorano had recently referred to the color simply as light purple. She missed Lexxi’s perspective. She responded, “I think we should ask the Advranki.”

  Lorano exclaimed, “That’s it! That is an excellent suggestion Clowy. The Altians may not have any detailed information about that time period, but the Advranki probably still do.”

  Clowy smiled brightly. Lorano also smiled for a moment. He said, “We are going to Advranki Prime.”

  A few minutes later Lorano edged the corvette Buzzkill off of the planet. They exited the atmosphere and flew to the Altian – Advranki hyperspace lane. They received clearance and made the 6 hour jump to Advranki Prime.

  Traffic control gave them a less than advantageous route to the planet despite the fact that they were in a military ship. As a result, they had a 12 hour voyage from the Advranki – Altian hyperspace lane to the planet.

  Lorano shook his head. It seemed strange that they could traverse half of the galaxy in less time than it took to cross a single solar system. Oh well, with luck they could find some answers to the mystery on Advranki Prime.

  Lorano was on final approach to the planet when he received an email. He checked and realized that it was from Russ Brand, one of the human pilots that he had helped kidnap and later got to know while stationed in Waylon. He opened the message and began reading. Clowy looked over at him expectantly, so he started over and read the note aloud.

  “Thank you for the information. It will be very helpful. Concerning your question – there is an old legend about a civilization that lived on Earth about 4,000 years ago called the Atlanteans. They built a beautiful city called Atlantis in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and supposedly taught people around the world how to build pyramids. Atlantis was destroyed by a giant tsunami a few years after it was constructed. There are some that believe the Atlanteans were aliens from another planet and that Atlantis was in fact a giant space ship, not a city.”

  Lorano was completely stunned. There it was, the mystery was more than likely solved. Just as he suspected, Earth must be the home world of the Solarians; not some random planet in the middle of a radiation belt. Or, perhaps there was an intermediate step. Maybe they left Earth, went to Old Solaria, and then went to Solaria. However, he doubted it.

  More than likely they went from Earth to the secret planet that he recently discovered / rediscovered, stayed there for a while, and suddenly decided to leave and go to Solaria. Lorano made a mental note – if this theory was true then he needed to search the secret planet for clues.

  All he needed now was tangible evidence from somewhere. Then he could prove that Earth was in fact Old Solaria and the story about the Solarian settlers leaving a planet about to get radiated was a myth. Or, Lorano thought, a clever misdirection. Lorano exclaimed “That’s it!”

  Clowy responded, “What’s that?” She reconsidered and said, “What’s it?” She smiled brightly.

  Lorano answered, “I know where we need to go to find the missing link.”

  “Where?” Clowy asked.

  Lorano: “Earth.”

  Clowy frowned and responded, “We can’t go there. First, it’s against the law, second we don’t know where it is, and third we would get killed and possibly eaten if we expose ourselves.”

  Lorano waved her off. The path forward was clear; the rest was just details.

  They switched to automated computer control and began their descent through Advranki Prime’s atmosphere. Lorano used the time to write a prospectus for his planed investigation. He wrote:

  Academy of Sciences, please accept the following proposal for a new project.

  I want to embark on a two year mission to seek out ancient worlds and extinct civilizations. I want to cautiously go where our ancestors have gone before.

  Lorano read it again and added - Oh, and the Altian female named Col lo Wey no Yen pa will accompany me.

  He then clicked submit and sent the request to the Altian Academy of Sciences division located on Advranki Prime. This was the fourth project request he had made in the last few months. He doubted that anyone would respond to this one either.

  He was
wrong. Six minutes later the request was accepted, the mission was endorsed by the Alliance Senate, and a generous budget was approved.

  The landed 10 minutes later. Lexxi was standing there waiting for them. Clowy jumped out and gave her a gigantic hug. Lorano even managed to thank her for personally greeting them at the spaceport.

  He suddenly had a strange thought. Clowy, to his knowledge anyway, hadn’t told Lexxi that they were coming. Curiosity overcame him and he asked, “Lexxi, how did you know that we were arriving at this time and at this landing pad?”

  Lexxi replied, “Oh. I just got a call from the Alliance Senate that you were arriving. They requested that I greet you personally.”

  Well, Lorano thought, they may have been given a bad route to the planet, but at least they received a personal welcome. Lexxi led them to a waiting ground car. They got in and rode a short distance to the warehouse district.

  Very short - about two blocks. It actually would have been faster had they walked.

  The ground car parked in front of an abandoned warehouse and the driverbot indicated that they could get out. Lorano entered the building and verified that it was abandoned. Although abandoned, the warehouse was in extremely good condition and was very well-maintained. Actually, it looked like it had just recently been cleared out and cleaned from top to bottom. Several surfaces still looked wet in fact.

  Clowy asked, “What are you doing these days?”

  Lexxi responded, “Well, I was getting my nails done when I rudely got interrupted mid clear coat. Some government lackey informed me that I was assigned to a top-secret, high profile government project.”

  Clowy asked, “What project?”