The Elect Saga : Status Quo (Book 1)

By Drew Wagar

“You can see the inspiration of space computer games like Elite, Freelancer, Wing Commander and Descent. Drew clearly played a lot of these in his youth, but is able to turn those foundations into a fabulous and original space adventure amongst the stars!”

"A brilliant scientist uncovers a terrifying plot to begin a galactic war. Aided by a talented, but reluctant and embittered combateer, he must stop the deployment of a super weapon he invented. A weapon so powerful it threatens to destroy entire worlds."

Status Quo is the first book in a four part space-opera series called the Elect Saga. It is set in a distant part of the galaxy filled with pirates, bounty hunters, traders, explorers and strange aliens. The stories are inspired by the space-trading and combat simulation games of the 1980 and 1990s.

Dawn Rite Publishing is an independent UK press, founded in 2011. We deal exclusively with fictional works in the SF and Fantasy genres.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Drew Wagar
• Release date: Feb 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9781915966001

Drew Wagar

Drew Wagar is a science fiction and fantasy author, living in the UK. He is the author of the Hegira Series, the Shadeward Saga, The Midnight Chronicles, the Elect Saga and the official Elite Dangerous novelisations.You can join a mailing list and discover more about Drew's books at his website.www.drewwagar.com

Book preview

Status Quo

Drew Wagar © 2023

All Rights Reserved

The right of Drew Wagar to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher or unless such copying is done under a current Copyright Licensing Agency license. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Status Quo

Drew Wagar

Book one of the Elect Saga.

First Published 2023 by Dawn Rite Publishing

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-915966-00-1

ISBN (paperback): 978-1-915966-18-6

Contents

Meta Data

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Also by Drew Wagar

About the Author

Meta Data

– Extract from Space Traders’ Flight Instruction Manual, TradeCon Publications

TradeCon is only one, although arguably the largest, of several interstellar organisations. Unlike the other major powers of the Old Earth Federation and the Jaqatar Empire, it is an alliance of worlds with simply a common interest in trade and commerce. Membership of TradeCon is entirely voluntary, requiring no changes of system government or practice, other than a membership fee which is taken from interstellar trade transactions, contrasting sharply with the aggressive acquisition of the Empire and the suffocating capitalist subjugation of the Federation.

TradeCon uses these fees to support a police force which patrols the space lanes between hyperspace jump points and the various space stations in orbit around member worlds. There is also a TradeCon Navy which protects TradeCon worlds from external attack.

We do not advise pilots to travel into Federation or Imperial territory at this time, as diplomatic relations between TradeCon and the other major powers remain at a low ebb.

Despite this, TradeCon maintains trade and diplomatic links with over two thousands systems spread across eight galactic sectors providing the entrepreneurial pilot with plenty of opportunity for profit. These sectors are connected by a series of hyperspace conduits that were discovered more than a century ago, though their origin remains unknown. Travel between sectors is possible, though expensive, with a particular adjustment of a ship’s standard hyperdrive mechanism. This is known as a Sector Jump.

Travel across sectors is achieved by standard hyperdrive, the technical details of which need not trouble the average pilot. Suffice to say, maximum range is limited to seven light years in a single jump, meaning that multiple jumps are required to cross a sector. Such a journey may take several weeks and require a significant amount of fuel.

Pilots would do well to note that TradeCon is responsible only for orbit space and beyond, it does not involve itself with planetary internal administrative affairs. Each system maintains its own government, and the nature of the system determines its suitability or desirability for trade. Corporate states are entirely safe, with an omnipresent (some would say oppressive) police presence. Anarchy states are, corresponding dangerous, with no effective police force at all, though with plenty of opportunities for the brave, and well-armed, trader.

For those human colonials who have not ventured off planet before it is worth mentioning that only forty five out of those two thousands TradeCon worlds are people by humans. There are several alien races and traders are advised to educate themselves as to their habits and preferences prior to attempting to negotiate trade deals. You will soon encounter bird-forms, amphibians, reptiles, felines, canines, marsupials and insectoids. They are all sapient and will take a dim view of not being treated as equals.

In dealing with any alien life-form, for the purposes of trade, there are two cardinal rules:

Cover up your body scent;

Learn the body language of the alien race.

– Extract from TradeCon Historical Logs, Zionisla System

Despite several attempts to determine precise dates, it seems that no one is entirely clear when space going craft became universally named after different varieties of old-earth bird. It seems to be one of those things that has been lost to time. In general terms, the bigger the ship, the bigger the bird name it is now associated with. All spacers know them well enough. Pelicans, Condors and Eagles are the biggest, mostly larger freighters. Small ships adopt the names of smaller birds such as Kites and Sparrows, mid-range ones are represented by the Osprey or the Raven. Combat capable ships adopt the names of correspondingly predatory birds, such as Raptors, Hawks and the Cassowary.

– Extract from Jayne’s Space Combat Basic Training, Yave System

Yeah, you’re going to start off with a burst laser. It’s the default fitting on most ships. Is it good? Huh, it’s better than nothing. Not much better than nothing mind, but…

Listen. Any combateer who takes themselves at all seriously is going to have a stream laser at a minimum. This packs a half decent punch and is going to make people think twice about attacking you. Of course, it’s only a stepping stone to…

Oh… you want to know what the top weapon is? Like your style, kiddo. What you’re after is a manifold laser. It’s basically 4 stream lasers bundled together. Now that’s a serious gun that will take out smaller ships in a couple of hits and even give the big boys a real headache. Does tend to run a bit hot though, you wanna watch that.

Missiles? Yeah, they can work, but be careful, they ain’t that reliable in the heat of battle. I wouldn’t depend on ‘em.

Of course, being offensive is no use unless you’ve got defences too. Basic shields won’t cut it for long. They drain a lot of energy, so an extra energy unit should be high on your upgrades list and some places offer military spec upgrades… won’t be cheap though.

There’s anti-missile defences too. ECM… yeah, yeah… it means electronic counter measures. Blows up incoming missiles… well, some of them anyway. Good to have, but it don’t make you invulnerable.

Other stuff? Well, there’s escape pods if you’re a coward… and docking computers if you’re incompetent… but if you can’t dock your ship manually, you shouldn’t be in space… and you should be ashamed of yourself.

Oh… yeah, one more thing. The rating, you need to know about that. You start off as a Rookie. If you survive out there for a while you’ll get marked as Competent. Most folks never get any further. What do I mean survive? You do know there are pirates, bounty hunters and other scum out there, right? You’ll see soon enough.

Careful who you shoot at though. Fire on an innocent vessel or a police ship and you’ll get marked as a fugitive and every bounty hunter in the galaxy will soon be tracking you down.

You see… taking down other spaceships can be profitable if they’ve got a bounty on ‘em. TradeCon pays good money to take out the trash. Do that often enough and you’ll get tagged as Notable. Get properly good at it and you’ll be Distinguished.

You want to be the best of the best? That means qualifying for Elect status. Your dreaming kid!

The Swarmers? Seriously? My advice, run away. Those crazy insects are major trouble. Their ships are better than ours and they pretty much attack on sight. TradeCon reserves the biggest bounties for those bad boys and for good reason, don’t even think about going up against them without everything maxed out, we clear?

Class dismissed, rookies.

Is the mic off? Good… those idiots. Reckon half of them will be dead in a fortnight.

– Extract from the Webcon Interactive Knowledge Institute, Cronira System

Simply put, a Quantum Bomb (or to use its proper name, the Tyley-Feynman Quantanium cascade mine) is a chain reaction device. Although it is physically very small, its effect has been described as being ‘like a miniature supernova, and just as deadly’. The gravitic shockwave it emits causes any matter caught within its range to be annihilated in secondary shockwave which expands in the same way as the original detonation, resulting in a domino effect. The upshot, then, is that the initial quantum bomb explosion is only the start. The devastation progresses in much the same way, catching further objects and causing them to explode, until there is no more significant matter to be consumed by the expanding waves of destruction.

The initial explosion expands in a sphere from the point of detonation. It is accompanied by the emission of high-energy photons (from gamma rays to visible light, mostly in the blue frequency range of the spectrum). The expansion of the sphere is easily observable (from a safe distance) and travels relatively slowly. The word ‘relatively’ is key here:- most spacecraft are unable to outrun the effect sphere without engines equipped with quantum space laser igniters, and should a ship not make good its escape early on, even igniters may be insufficient for the craft to reach minimum safe distance.

Thus, the results of a quantum bomb cascade can be rather spectacular.

– Extract from the Unofficial TradeCon Conspiracy Theory Archive, Tian System

TradeCon strenuously denies having anything to do with the bomb, and have unofficially supported the call for it to be banned, stating that it should never have been manufactured in the first place. So, it seems likely they were involved from the start.

The two individuals held responsible, Tyley and Feynman, were never interviewed, never received any public accolade. It was said they were merely research scientists who shied away from scrutiny and the media spotlight, not proud of the device they had created. No photos exist and no records of life events can be found. They have never been heard from since.

– Extract from Yave Space Licensing Authority Log, Yave System

Flight license denial for Rebecca Weston and James McKenna overridden. Presidential approval.

Chapter One

The Eagle class cruiser was a vicious looking ship. Lean, angular, fast and deadly, sporting a talon-and-tooth livery, it was the nemesis of many an unhappy trader. Its jutting ram intake granted it an eerie resemblance to the fearsome hunter that inspired its design.

True to form it was chasing down its prey, a battered Osprey, the traders' seminal ship. The Osprey was a versatile vessel, and was often seen in fully loaded battle readiness. This particular one wasn't so well endowed. It was attempting to flee the Eagle, in vain.

The Eagle triggered its forward weapons array, the Osprey rolling drunkenly in a hopeless attempt to escape. Its rear shields failed and tell-tale plasma began to leak from its overworked drive units. A couple more hits and it would succumb.

The Eagle's owner, a pirate of some notoriety, savoured his victim's last moments. The cargo had already been stolen, and he didn't feel in a merciful mood today, he had his reputation to maintain.

His gloved hands closed over the firing controls as he rotated his ship to bring the unfortunate Osprey back into the cross hairs.

'Thank you, and good night...'

The Eagle lurched, then lurched again, throwing off his aim. Cursing, he adjusted his scanner. A new red blip had appeared, a hostile ship, targeting him. The Eagle lurched again, his rear shield now fully a third gone.

Quickly he targeted the newcomer. He was surprised to see it was a lone Kite. A small lightly armed vessel. It had no quantum space hyperdrive, no way to travel between the stars. A simple interplanetary ship, usually used as a cheap and cheerful escort. The signature of the hits on his shields indicated it was armed with the basic burst laser common to such a simple ship. It was unusual for a Kite to be journeying alone, even in a safe system like Tian.

Kite. Mass 52 Metric. Speed .375 QMach. Legal Status Clean, Bounty 0 Cr.

He flicked on the wideband local comms and sent out a hail to the new ship.

'Stand down. This is a legitimate kill. If you don't want to join him, I suggest you reverse course now. You're outgunned. Leave while you still can.'

The answer was another double hit on his rear shield.

'You have been warned!' he growled.

Another blast.

Can't really be bothered with this, your funeral fool.

He locked a missile on target, choosing one of the ECM proof 'hard heads' – expensive, but effective. He'd make an embarrassing amount of profit on this trip, he had money to burn. He thumbed the coder release.

The missile shot away with furious speed, immediately homing in on the Kite. To his surprise there was no futile burst of ECM energy attempting to remotely detonate the missile. The Kite didn't even turn aside in an attempt to avoid the missile. Instead it headed straight for it. The two objects converging at a terrifying speed.

At the point of collision the Kite jinked aside, twisting around its centre axis abruptly, the missile passing mere metres below its hull. Deprived of its target the missile veered around. The Kite then turned itself...

...in pursuit of the missile!

Laser fire flickered out, once, twice. The missile detonated a second later, the Kite coming about in a wide arc and homing in once again on the Eagle. Two more impacts registered on the shields before the Eagle's Captain reacted.

Shot down a missile? Impressive...

He recovered quickly. He was a veteran of space borne combat. His ship was more than a match for the Kite. Fore and aft military spec manifold lasers packed a punch that would decimate the smaller ship. The Kite stood no chance. He cycled up the engines to full power, rotating his ship to face his assailant.

'Very clever,' he taunted across the comms, 'But you'll have to better than that.'

There was no answer from the incoming Kite. Hits registered again on his shields as the Eagle lumbered around to bring its weapons to bear.

One decent hit and it'll be toast.

The Kite jinked again on its approach, short bursts of laser fire still emanating from its pea shooter of a gun. It passed through the gun sights of the Eagle.

Goodbye...

He triggered the forward manifold laser.

The Kite wasn't there. It had ducked aside, radically changing its speed and approach