MIRANDA REVEALED
by
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When the Centauri emerged from Asteroid Abigail 901, four ships including the Magma escorted it towards Mirad, while two more left in the opposite direction. As the crew of the Centauri got used to their new controls, thirty engineers and technicians from the Magma helped them understand how their updated ship worked.
They had been travelling for five hours when Captain Icceless, now aboard the Centauri, received a message from Commander Imtrek who was temporary in charge of the Magma. They were still going through space trials when three ships appeared before them. The Imar, the Rigilion battleship they encountered earlier, the Hydromel and Elixir, both belonging to the animal population on the planet Arcturus Prime, known to everyone as the Arcturians.
“Come to battle stations,” Captain Icceless commanded.
Claxons sounded throughout the ship and red lights pulsated on bulkheads and overhead, letting the crew know they were in danger. Gun crews ran to their stations manning the guns and torpedo launchers.
On the bridge, technicians, engineers and security officers manned their stations and extra technicians manned the vacant consoles that would give Captain Armstrong and Captain Icceless better information about the enemy ships and what was happening around them.
The Magma and other three ships were also coming to battle stations, but unlike the Centauri, they were completely invisible. The Centauri’s ion trail was a dead giveaway. Four green torpedoes left the Imar and hurtled through space towards the Centauri and exploded a short distance from the ship, having been destroyed by energy weapons from the Globe, commanded by Captain Izzacc. He sent a telepathic message to Captain Icceless to move the Centauri away from the battle and they would take over.
“No Izzacc, let’s see how the humans operate, if they run into trouble, then by all means take over, but it would do us good to see this crew in operation. If they are anything like the crews protecting Mars, they should be able to get a few shots away. When they fire again, make yourself known to the Rigilions and take a little heat from us, if we’re in trouble, you’ll have to destroy the Imar and the Arcturian ships.”
“As you command Sir,” Captain Izzacc replied.
As the crews manned their stations, Captain Armstrong looked towards Captain Icceless expecting he didn’t know what. He was in a strange area of space with people who he had come to trust; he knew there were four ships close by and wondered why they hadn’t attacked the Rigilion ships.
“My ships are behind you, but I would like to see how you and your crew react to this situation. You have all the weapons you need to counter attack these ships and you are capable of inflicting major damage to the Arcturian ships. As for the Imar, it’s much harder to break through their force fields and therefore, you’ll need the help of all my ships to destroy it. If you are happy to trust me that my ships will protect you, I trust you to attack these ships,” Captain Icceless said.
“In that case, I need to see Professor Anderson, he’s not informed me on the use of the weapons that he’s made as we’ve never used them,” Captain Armstrong replied.
“Then order who you need to your bridge.”
At that very moment, Mike, Bob and Oragan entered the bridge; they had all been involved in making the weapons Dave had sent to Mike through his third telepathic contact. When Mike was in his lab, he sensed something was not quite right. He had installed a small screen in his office and lab which showed him what the bridge screen was showing. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Captain Armstrong, he had complete faith in him: but he was in charge of the mission and the people of Mars had put their faith in him to find a new home and he didn’t want to let them down.
“Ah Mike, I was just about to call you, Captain Icceless has left this battle in our hands. As I’m still unsure what these new weapons can do, I need your advice on what to use.”
“Of course Captain,” Mike said and looked at the screen. At the time, he was conversing telepathically and in silence with Bob and Oragan, even Nick, down in engineering, was in the loop as he had also helped make the weapons.
“Which is the biggest ship?” Mike asked.
“The Imar, the same Rigilion battleship you encountered earlier,” Captain Icceless informed him. “The larger of the other two ships is the Hydromel and the smallest, although still larger than your ship, the Elixir, both these ships belong to the telepathic Arcturians, the animal people who are very dangerous,” he continued.
“Thank you for the information Captain Icceless, this is very helpful. Captain Armstrong, I would be inclined to take the Hydromel first. Use our plasma beams to protect us when they fire their weapons. We are of the opinion that three of our torpedoes will be enough to make an impact on the Hydromel and as soon as we have fired the first three torpedoes, we alter trajectory and attack the Elixir.
“We then concentrate on the Imar and show them what we have. Since we first made these torpedoes, we have been working on upgrading them and we think the latest design will work against the Imar. This will be the first time we’ve had a chance to test them properly,” Mike said looking around the bridge as if this was any standard experiment he carried out.
“If you agree to our suggestions, then Nick and Oragan will sort out the loading with their specialist crews of the new torpedoes,” Mike added.
“Alright Mike, let’s take these Rigilions out. If our people on Mars can beat them, I’m sure we can give them something to think about at least. With the new engines, if things go bad we can always run,” he replied smiling.
“I’m sure it won’t come to that,” Mike replied and went to his own science station on the bridge while Oragan checked his station then left the bridge to assist Nick and their team.
“Main torpedoes . . .”
“Captain, we have an incoming message from one of the ships,” Ms Wain said interrupting his orders.
“Put them on our screen if it’s possible. Captain Icceless, they will be able to see you from our bridge camera if they can match our video and speech configurations.”
“I will move to one of the consoles and keep my back to the camera if that is acceptable to you. It’s important that whilst speaking to them no one uses telepathy, or else the animal people will be able to pick up the thought waves,” he said for the entire bridge crew to hear.
The screen changed to show a strange animal person before them. Everyone on the bridge looked at the screen, except Icceless. The alien had the head of large leopard, its mouth was slightly bigger and it had the same colour hair, with dark spots and light yellow hair around its face. It had a short body, two thin arms with hands and four, very long fingers with black tips at the end and a stubby short thumb, again with a black tip at the end. It had two legs, and large feet, which were covered with a dark green uniform and wide brown shoes.
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About the Book
Set in the period 2012 – 2035 is based on a war between the Rigilion Empire and people of Earth which has been on-going for 3500 years when Emperor Kane last attacked the Earth. Earth is destroyed and the humans now live on Mars with the old Martians. Prof Mike Anderson is sent into deep space to find a new home and help for the humans. He finds the Federation of Planets and the Old Martians who left Mars 3800 years ago after the first war with the Rigilions. Emperor Kane is now out of his long, 3500 year sleep in charge of the Rigilion Empire and now rules it as it was in his youth, barbarically.
The Old Ones were a very advanced civilisation, also very interested in Earth, formerly Utopia and left our galaxy 25000 years ago. The Federation have been waiting thousands of years for their return, and searching for the right man to do this job. When Prof. Mike Anderson is brought to Mirad, the capital planet of the Federation, the High Priests realise their long wait has come to an end. After long talks and learning more of him, Prof. Mike Anderson is named the Chosen One. It is up to him to defeat Emperor Kane and bring peace to the galaxy.
To accomplish this, he will need all the help he can get from Admiral Hayes and King Ramesses IV on Mars. The only way back is through the Miranda Gate, but it is locked closed and in the middle of the star Miranda, the same star Emperor Kane sent into their system to destroy the Earth. Mike must retake planets that have been under Rigilion control for thousands of years and try to overthrow Emperor Kane. He must accomplish this and find the Light Bearer, who will assist him in bringing back the Old Ones from where they have been for the past 25000 years. However, if they bring back the Old Ones, will they help the current people of the galaxy move forward, take over the galaxy themselves or bring another species with them who might be deadlier than the Rigilions?
About the Author
I am 62 and a retired Electrical Engineer. I used to make control panels, mainly for the MOD and nuclear power stations. I have a University Degree in Maths and Physics and I enjoy reading all about Quarks and what they could do to drive a ship through space. When I was 17 I sent my first spaceship design to NASA with a picture of a model my friend and I built. Three years later, I saw a photo of what looked very much like my spaceship on the front cover of Spaceflight, (a BIS production), it was an artist’s impression of what the Space Shuttle would look like when it was built. I then sent two more designs to NASA, which were interplanetary ships, very large and able to get close to the speed of light. I believe that one day we will get to see the stars close up and travel far into space.
My main interests are astronomy, photography and model building; I also enjoy reading SF and Horror, I really enjoy Stephen King and have a very good imagination. I like to watch films, mainly Sci-Fi, but I also love Harry Potter and action films.
When I write books, I see them as a film in my head, knowing what the book will be like from beginning to end. Being an Electrical Engineer and knowing how electricity is made and with my degree in physics, it helps me when I design engines that take ships well past the speed of light. When writing space battles, I also have to create new types of weapons, guns and the ships themselves. The ships have to be realistic, for their size and the engines that power them and their weapons have to work. I like the reader to see how the weapons work and what the energy beams do to an enemy ship and how the ship breaks up when it’s destroyed. Not all ships disintegrate to minute pieces, large sections will still survive and they have to go somewhere, even if it is into the path of another ship. I also like to show the reader, in slow motion sometimes, how Intelligent Torpedoes get into a ship and go about blowing it up. It’s better than a single line, telling the reader that a torpedo hit the ship and it blew up.
I like to write long books, 200,000 words plus because I think the reader deserves to get a lot of detail in the book and leave nothing to the reader’s imagination; that is the writer’s job. I also believe for the price of books today, the reader should get good value for the money they have to pay and take a few days at least to read my books. I like my readers to get into my books, see what is happening as if they are watching a film and get really stuck in and excited. Most of all, I want my books to be believable, even if the story is placed in the distant future.
Fifteen years ago I was diagnosed with an Epidurmoid Cyst inside my spinal column and given eight weeks to live. Three major operations later on my spine, I’m still here but in a great deal of pain due to the damage done to my nervous system. I then had four operations on my left foot due to a rare form of cancer and now have half a left foot. Through it all, I fought on with the love and support of my wife and family. Now I spend my days in a wheelchair, using my imagination to escape the pain I’m in every day.
I’m a Member of the BIS (British Interplanetary Society) and BUFORA, (British Unidentified Flying Object Research Association). Yes, I do believe I have seen two UFO’s over the UK. I don’t think there is an enormous Universe for just us to be in, it not only would be a total waste of space, but we cannot be alone! I have written two papers on Black Holes and the Multiverse and have my own ideas on Dark Energy.
I am married to Angela who is also my career and best critique. We have five children who are all grown up and four grandchildren. Having lived in Bristol, UK all my life, the nights are still dark enough without too get some good work done.