Occlusion: The New Dawn: Book 9

By Valerie J Mikles

Hawk’s people need the truth to survive. The Protected only care about saving themselves.

Having traveled the world to find a cure for a city-wide malady, Hawk is anxious about his return home. Although facing a death sentence, he believes the medicine he’s brought can save his city from extinction. But when he and the captain start behaving oddly, the crew suspects a hybrid is pulling the strings in Rocan, altering people’s perceptions, and even occluding the cause of the malady itself.

Hawk’s resistance to the altered reality raises red flags among the Protected, a group of humans living in a neighboring realm that relies on Rocan to exist. The Protected also want the cure, and they plan to steal it. Exposing the Protected could collapse the walls of the city, killing everyone in Rocan. Can Hawk fight the control of the Protected to save himself, his family, and his city?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Valerie J Mikles
• Release date: Jun 21, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224603770

Valerie J Mikles

I'm an aromantic, asexual, agender person who is currently using she/her pronouns. Writing has given me the opportunity to discover and represent so many identities, and in turn find myself. I feel like diverse identities should exist in literature without being a central aspect of the plot. I have created several short films about asexuality, inspired by my own journey to self-discovery. Learn more about my creative side and my writing at http://www.valeriejmikles.comI'm also a PhD astronomer and former black hole hunter. I defected from academia and currently work for NOAA as a Senior Systems Engineer on a polar-orbiting weather satellite. My motto in life is that I can be everything I want, just not all at the same time

Book preview

THE STORY SO FAR

#1 The Disappeared – Oriana’s crew becomes the target of the Terranan Guard after a former Disappeared, Amanda Gray, escaped her Elysian prison and resurfaced. In the fight for their lives, Oriana loses their pilot, Corey, and the ship crashes far from home.

---

#2 Sequestered – Sky and Hawk join the crew when Oriana makes a narrow escape from Rocan, a dying city in desperate need of Oriana’s resources. In exchange for Hawk’s help, Captain Danny Matthews promises he will find and bring back medicine to save Hawk’s people.

---

#3 Trade Circle – While exploring the ruins of an ancient city, Danny and Saskia fall victim to a deadly disease. Sky reaches out to the nomadic tribes in the area and invites a heap of new trouble when her spirit-carrier nature is revealed.

---

#4 Hybrid – Oriana arrives in Boone expecting a technologically advanced civilization only to find a ghost town. The sole survivors of the destruction are two human-spirit hybrids, Kerris and Liza. Realizing that Hawk is a hybrid as well, Liza becomes convinced Hawk can teach her how to undo the destruction of Boone.

---

#5 The Gray Market – Danny and Tray learn that their mother was once in the business of capturing hybrids and selling their powers. In their absence from Quin, Lois Ketlin has risen to power by stealing their mother’s technique, and she is determined to destroy the Matthews brothers in the process. In the aftermath of Ketlin’s defeat, Morrigan and Chase join the crew to escape the city and start their lives fresh.

---

#6 The Confluence – While in the process of saving Sky, the crew uncovers a government plot to break into the realm of the half-breeds using a modified artificial gravity source called the Confluence. When the crew realizes this special stone could punch a hole between the physical and spirit realms, they bring down the entire government.

---

#7 Premonition – Amanda shares a premonition with the Nolan Magistrate and begins a search for a half-breed hiding among them. Accused of colluding with spirits, Danny and Sky are taken prisoner. Tray and Saskia save the Magistrate’s son and negotiate a trade for the lives of their crew. Corin Toulane joins the crew to escape persecution.

---

#8 Echo – Sky reunites with Jack Fisher to save Jack’s children, who have become victims of Cordovan medical experiments. Amanda’s echo power reveals the hybrid nature of one, and Jack steals the power in attempt to save him. Ian Cooper overwrites Amanda’s brain to bring back her lost sibling. Jack and Ian join the crew to make amends for their actions.

THE CREW

Danny Matthews – After his stepfather rejected him, he moved to Terrana, only to be caught in a Revolution. After the Revolution, he began transporting refugees from Terrana to Aquia. At many points, he found himself captured, interrogated, and abused by the Terranan Guard. He became captain of Oriana after reuniting with his estranged brother, Tray.

---

Tray Matthews – He comes from wealth but grew up not knowing he had a brother. After a falling out with his father and a messy divorce, he went seeking family and has been clinging to his brother ever since. Tray hopes to salvage a relationship with his teleporting son, despite his ex-wife’s desire to keep them apart.

---

Saskia Serevi – A former Terranan Guard, Saskia joined Oriana’s crew three captains ago after a paralyzing injury drove her from service. She takes the mantle of the stoic warrior, but also nominal mechanic and medic. She and Tray have a romantic relationship.

---

Amanda Gray – A former Disappeared, she died in captivity multiple times, and she’s learned that her lost memories can never be restored. She has a strong connection to the spirit realm and has recently discovered that she can echo the powers of hybrids.

---

Douglas Hawk Hwan – Hawk is an engineer whose aptitude for machines comes from a hybrid nature. He’s learned that he can unlock doors, jam weapons, and turn electrical devices off and on with the power of his mind. He worries about his children growing up with hybrid abilities.

---

Sky – A spirit-carrier, she has no ability to communicate with the Seer that possesses her. She has lived her life as a traveler because she fears if she stays in one place too long, Spirit will find a way to kill her and jump into a new host.

---

Dr. Morrigan Zenzele – After the reigning drug lord of Quin killed her parents, Morrigan used drugs to escape her pain. She credits Tray’s arrival and need for her as motivation for staying clean. She joined Oriana’s crew as a doctor because she is no longer allowed to practice medicine in Quin.

---

Prince Corin Toulane – Corin suffered abuse for years for protecting same-sex couples during his city’s Festival. When he fell in love with Hawk, revealing his own sexuality, they were both beaten and drowned. Rescued by Tray, Corin found a second chance on Oriana, and asked for sanctuary.

---

Jack Fisher – A geneticist and clone, Jack engineered two sons, but both were subjected to abuse as Cordovan test subjects. Her short-sighted efforts to save them (i.e., impregnating Morrigan with Michael’s child) led to further estrangement. Facing a death sentence at home, she joined Oriana with the promise that she’d help save Hawk’s people.

---

Ian Cooper – A medical tech and clone, Ian is a natural twin, but lost her sister Isabelle to cancer. When Amanda asked to die, Ian took advantage and overwrote Amanda’s memories with those of her sister. Finding access to latent Cooper powers in Amanda’s body, Isabelle rejected Ian and tried to run. Sentenced to death for her crime, Ian joined Jack’s team, hoping for a second chance.

1

Sleet pelted Rocan’s dome and the lights flickered, sending their artificial dusk rapidly into night. Celio Ferriera kept his flashlight off and clutched to his side, not wanting to draw attention to the device. In Qu’Appelle, the live part of the city, the light leaking from the houses was sufficient to pick his way down the broken street, but when he crossed into Caswell, he’d need the flashlight. Thunder rumbled and their artificial sky flickered again, returning to the dusk setting. The fact that a storm outside affected them in here only highlighted how damaged their protective walls had become.

Mon Ferriera! a messenger boy called, galloping across the pavement toward him. His hand-me-down green uniform shirt had tattered sleeves, and his shoes had holes at the toes. The thread crop had been fine this year, but a vicious pox had decimated the work force, leaving them short on repaired clothing. Mon Harris is missing again.

Distance! Celio warned the kid. Caring for his pregnant sister these past few months, Celio had become cautious about exposing himself to the highly contagious sickness. The ten-year-old made a wide circle, still trotting while keeping his distance.

The Constable says he’s not in the pagoda, the boy reported.

Celio had heard that John Harris was missing; that was why he’d grabbed the flashlight. He’d been hoping to find the old man and return him home before a city-wide search began. Did the Constable check the asylum or the mine?

You’re the only one permitted at the mine, Mon Ferriera, the boy said.

Celio sighed. Rocan’s mine was a three-mile hike through a poorly insulated tunnel. John Harris and countless others had sacrificed their physical health working in the mine, gathering resources that their people didn’t need and couldn’t trade. Celio had been so proud to be appointed Overseer, but the mine had been shut down almost six months ago due to the pox, and they’d lost nothing… except a way to pass the time.

Tell the Constable I will bring Mon Harris home if I find him, Celio said, looking over the boy’s shoulder, wondering if he should make a show of going to the mine or continue to Caswell like he’d planned.

Yes, sir, the boy said, nearly tripping over his shoes as he skipped in another circle.

Also, my sister Lorraine is staying at my house. She is pregnant and unable to go to the cafeteria on her own. Can you order a plate for her? Tell her I will be home late, Celio said. He expected a berating from his sister, who’d become even more bored than he by the city-wide quarantine.

The messenger skipped off and Celio picked up speed, crossing the border into Caswell, the long-dead district that took up a third of their city. The lights had been harvested from here to keep Qu’Appelle bright, so the place was always cast in shadow. The houses were coated with decades of dust, with hand and footprints showing the paths of scavengers. Celio had been scavenging supplies from this district since childhood. It was how he’d discovered Douglas Hwan’s secret airplane. For almost three years, he’d watched Douglas steal resources and hide them in a hanger next to the Caswell gate, slowly piecing the aircraft together. It was a replica of one Hwan senior had built, that had exploded on the first test flight. Douglas succeeded where his father had failed. He’d flown his little airplane right into the cargo hold of an alien ship and they’d taken off, leaving his ailing mother and adoptive father behind.

After helping Douglas escape, John Harris, his adoptive father, had a single message. The aliens Douglas had found had promised to return with medicine. John had demonstrated the potential power of the alien medicine, healing a young girl who’d been burned by fire.

That month had been insane—the arrival of a strange woman, then the arrival of the alien travelers. Celio had convinced Douglas that he was crazy, but when he realized the aliens were real, he had fought to undo the damage and convince Douglas he had to go with them. He had to save their people. The aliens had been blamed for everything since that day—the weather, bad or good, the falling birth rate, and the pox that had ravaged their population. Every day, Celio prayed that the aliens would return—that Douglas would return.

Douglas’s hanger had been dismantled, and the Caswell gate sealed. It hadn’t been opened since the aliens left. Sometimes John came here, searching for his son, but Celio didn’t see him.

A flash of light startled Celio. He shut off his flashlight and scanned the dome ceiling. Had he seen lightning from outside? He listened for sounds of rain or wind. In the tunnel leading to the mine, wind whistled through tiny cracks, but the dome walls were several feet thick. There was no such thing as a tiny hole. Turning on his flashlight, he aimed it up, but the dome ceiling was too high to scan with his flashlight.

John, he called, sweeping his light around the hollow spot that used to be the hanger before heading back to the street. The clop, clop of his shoes against the stone pavers barely made an echo. Then the crisp sound was replaced by a splatter, and he whipped his light downward. He’d stepped in a puddle.

It was tiny pool of water, barely large enough to make a splash, with a sliver of a stream running toward it. Celio’s heart thundered. The dome had a leak. None of the houses here were plumbed anymore, so it couldn’t have come from that. Keeping his flashlight pointed at the sliver of water, he followed it up the street and around a corner, then stopped in his tracks.

It can’t be, he gasped. There should have been a high-rise dormitory on this row, but there was a giant spaceship!

His jaw dropped. Douglas, he whispered, running to the ship. He’d only caught glimpses of the alien ship last time, and he couldn’t be sure if this was the same one. But how could it not be? And how had it gotten in here? If it had crashed through the dome, they would have heard.

The ship was as tall as the four-story buildings on either side of it. The nose was crumpled and broken, and if it had landing legs, they hadn’t deployed. Small wings had decayed so that only the framing remained. Water puddled beneath it, and a thin sheen of ice made it look like it had been out in the freezing rain. Lightning flashed again, and the dome seemed to disappear. A gust of freezing air whipped around Celio, making him shiver.

I’m going crazy, he whispered, wrapping his arms around himself. There was no way this could be here. He turned around, looking back at Caswell, and for a moment, it seemed like the city was the mirage.

Then he heard two voices talking. He recognized John’s voice, and so he followed it. There was a jagged, oval hole in the side of the ship, and he stepped inside. Soft blue walls and warm light surrounded him. Celio touched the wall to convince himself that it was real. His hand looked dirty against the clean surface. Peering into the next room, he saw John Harris seated at a table, surrounded by technology he’d only ever read about in fiction. Next to John was Celio’s late mother, Kinley Hwan!

Celio gasped and pressed his back to the wall in the hall. He didn’t believe in ghosts, but he couldn’t deny the sound of her voice or the smile on her face. He’d done his best to care for Kinley after Douglas left. He’d never told anyone that she was his mother or that John was his father. No one was supposed to know the bloodlines of the adopted in Rocan.

Do you remember? she asked, her voice sweet and lovely—nothing like how she’d sounded after spending over a decade in asylum.

Kinley. You shouldn’t be out in the cold, John said, sounding weary. Celio peeked in again, his eyes drawn to their clasped hands. To his knowledge, they’d never had a physical relationship, outside of that one obligatory breeding session where he was conceived.

I’m an angel now. I can go anywhere, she said, leaning her body over the back of his chair, pressing her cheek to his. She had dark brown eyes, and her hair had gone prematurely white before she died. On their last visit, she’d told Celio she was an angel.

Do you remember the spaceship? Not this one. The one that took Douglas?

I remember, he said. Even when consumed by madness, Kinley had seemed to know everything about the strangers. Celio hadn’t been the only one to dismiss her prophetic words as madness.

Do you remember why you didn’t go with them? she pressed.

I’m old. I would have slowed them down, he said.

That’s not the reason, Kinley said, bumping his shoulder. You were in love with the traveler. With Sky.

A short-term infatuation. We’d only known each other a few days, he said, smiling as he remembered the beautiful woman who had started the chaos in their town. Why do you want me to remember? If I remember, we all die.

We are all dying, she said. Shouldn’t we know why?

Kinley—

John spotted Celio and he jumped from the chair. Kinley and the ship disappeared, and suddenly they were standing in an empty room in an old men’s dormitory, with Celio’s flashlight the only light in the room.

What are you doing here? John asked, crossing the room, taking the flashlight from Celio’s trembling hand.

I came looking for you, Celio rasped. He looked down at his feet, checking for water, not sure when the hallucination had started. Or was it a trick of technology? Had Douglas left something behind? W-what—what did I see?

Nothing. It will fade like a dream. Don’t think on it anymore, John said, putting an arm around Celio’s shoulders and guiding him out of the room. They went down a flight of stairs and back to the street. There was no sign of the water that had led him to the ship.

Celio laughed and shook his head, annoyed that John was leading him, like he was the deranged one. He fought to keep the image of the spaceship in his mind, but all he could think of was getting John back home so he could go have dinner with his sister.

If you’re watching for Douglas’s return, the pagoda outside the Qu’Appelle gate has the better view, Celio said, pushing John’s hand off his shoulder.

In this rain? John asked, tilting his ear, though Celio didn’t hear the dangerous weather through the dome anymore. I did go there first.

John looked over his shoulder, and Celio looked back, too. Maybe if he came back on his own later, he could talk to his mother, too.

Deputy Reginald Arman had been promoted to Acting Constable shortly after his predecessor, Channing Mace, was appointed Acting Intendant. The widespread plague of pox had led to a rapid turnover in the established leadership. It was a welcome turnover for most, but it kept Reg away from his family more nights than he liked.

As soon as the messenger boy delivered word that John Harris had been found, Reg eagerly headed home. John had been staying with his family for months. It shouldn’t have been that difficult to keep track of him.

Constable! someone hollered as he passed the main gate that led to the pagoda.

Reg cringed, knowing he had a duty but hating being delayed. Trotting to the gate, he saw three men. One was blocking the gate, one had a child by the collar, and the third was the one who’d waved him over. The child was Reg’s eight-year-old daughter, Felicity.

Felicity kicked and rasped, her voice coming out in disjointed squeaks, which wasn’t unusual, but still worried him. Before he’d adopted her, she’d suffered serious abuse and she’d been mute for weeks. She still struggled to use her voice, and sometimes the barrier seemed physical rather than psychological.

What’s going on? Reg asked, putting a hand on Felicity’s shoulder, drawing her from the man’s grip. Her curly blonde hair was a tangled mess, and the ratty coat she’d stolen from his closet swallowed her tiny frame.

They won’t let me go to the pagoda to pray! she squeaked. It was a relief to hear her use her words.

Well, little darling, you’re eight. You’re not allowed there by yourself, Reg pointed out, squatting to get on her level. She twisted and writhed, like she was fighting a fierce grip rather than his gentle hand.

In this weather, no women are allowed out, the man by the gate said. They were civilians, and Reg hadn’t realized there was an unofficial watch on this door. He’d assumed any woman who dared leave did so at her own risk.

Women can’t do anything here! I want to go home! Felicity screeched, throwing herself on the ground, pounding it with her fist. Reg sat next to his daughter, putting a hand on her back so he could grab her if she ran.

Where’s home? he asked calmly. They knew nothing about where she’d been the first seven years of her life, and when pressed, she said only that she wanted to forget.

Felicity stopped writhing, but stayed on the ground, glowering.

I can’t walk her to the pagoda? Reg asked one of the men.

Little girl on the ice? the man shrugged. Reg knew how that ended—if he endangered the life of his child, she’d be taken away from him.

Thank you for stopping her, he said, waving them away. Then he tugged Felicity’s arm, pulling her into his lap so he could lift her. Let’s go home.

At first, she resisted, making herself limp but heavy. When she realized he could lift her regardless, she started twisting and kicking again. Don’t pick me up. I’m not a little girl. I’m just small for my age.

You’re not small for eight, he said, then caught himself, realizing she’d let slip another hint about her past. He set her on two feet, but she refused to stand, letting her legs fold so she was sitting on the ground again. How old are you?

Her pale blue eyes were red-rimmed and she stared intently at the ground in front of her.

Darling, if you remember something about your past life, it’s okay, Reg said, resisting the urge to embrace her. Your age. Your name. How old are you? Do you remember?

She squirmed. I’m not supposed to remember.

Why not?

Because if I’m old, they’ll send me to Geneculture, she said, tears welling in her eyes. I can’t be old. I need to go to the pagoda. I need to pray that it doesn’t come back. I have to forget. I have to be Felicity now.

You can be Felicity and remember, Reg said, touching her hand. His wife wept often when she thought about Felicity’s future, and the curse of being a woman in Rocan. There were so few women that all were required to have more partners and children than they wanted. You are not that old. You are certainly not old enough for Geneculture. Mon Hwan will return before you ever have to go there.

Felicity fell into his arms and sobbed.

I wish you were the kind of wisher that made wishes come true, she murmured.

Let’s go home and play a game before bed, he suggested. I think Mon Harris could use some family time as well.

No, Felicity gasped, scrambling back. She nearly made it to the gate before he caught her. She grasped for one of the handles on the gate, scraping her fingertips. No. He shouldn’t live with us. It’s his fault I remember. It’s his fault!

How is it his fault? Reg asked, trying to stay calm. He snaked his arms around Felicity’s waist, lifting her off the ground to get her away from the gate. She touched his arm and her whole body went cold and still. When her legs stopped kicking, he set her down, and she kept one hand over his, staring slack-jawed at his knuckles, like she was touching a corpse.

When he’d chased the aliens into the tundra last year, he’d gotten severe frostbite and nearly lost the arm. It was still a bit discolored and tender, but he’d never seen Felicity react that way, about his arm or about John Harris.

Felicity?

Occlusion. It’s fine. It’s not real, she whispered, poking his hand a few more times before pulling back.

Ok, it’s not real, he said, confused, but hoping his agreement would keep her talking. But can you tell me about it anyway? What is the Occlusion?

She scrunched her eyes closed and clamped her hands over her ears. The pained expression on her face made him ache, and he worried he’d pressed her too hard, but then her tiny voice whispered. The dark cloud that covers us. It keeps us alive. And it kills us.

Without removing her hands from her ears or opening her eyes, she extended one finger to point upward.

The dome? he asked, looking up. He rarely looked at the dome that covered their city because it had no features. It was just a globe of light that got brighter in the afternoon and dimmer in the evenings. Outside the dome, through the windows of the pagoda, they could see the real sky, and it was worth looking up.

What dome? Felicity whispered ominously, peeking one eye open. Then she squeezed her eyes shut again.

Would you like Mon Harris to live somewhere else? he asked. He didn’t know where he would send John. The man needed care, and he’d lost all his other family. Felicity?

Dropping her hands from her ears, she cocked her head to one side and mouthed her name. No sound came out. Reg sighed, heartbroken. Every day, she seemed to get a little better, but there were still moments he lost her to her past. All he could do now was take her home.

2

Kyrn Gate gasped for breath as he fell from the Protected realm and into Rocan. When he was a child, the trip was thrilling, and he’d loved the adrenaline rush, despite the fog it left in his mind. Rocan lived under what his people called the Occlusion. It kept them from seeing the truth—that Rocan had been in ruins for centuries. Caswell had suffered a direct impact, and the conjurers of the time had saved the city, sealing the dome, then creating the Occlusion to keep people from panicking. When he passed into the Occlusion, it was easy to forget where he’d come from.

Where are we? his younger brother Jotham muttered.

Kyrn blinked and turned in a circle, nearly tripping over his brother in the darkness. Jotham had collapsed, but he had enough wits about him to curl up and roll out of Kyrn’s way. Although both of them had teleportation power, Jotham had used his strength to pull them both through the realm to get here. They weren’t sure why Dr. Frank had summoned them, but if he had a new candidate to offer the Protected, Kyrn wanted to be fresh so he could carry a ride-along.

Hudson tunnel. Great job, Kyrn said sarcastically, recognizing the translucent walls covering the path to the mine. It was a familiar destination to them, right near a blind curve in the tunnel, about a mile outside of the city. When teleporting through the Occlusion, the beaten paths took less energy. They’d both been runners for the mine before faking their deaths to flee Rocan.

It’s better than you could have done, Jotham sneered, hopping to his feet and brushing off his clothes. Now that they weren’t runners, Jotham liked to be clean. Kyrn suspected that having a wife and two daughters at home also put the pressure on. His golden skin had a healthy glow that came from the pure happiness of being with his family.

We’ll see on the way out. This is nowhere near Dr. Frank’s house, Kyrn said. They’d have to run through the semi-quarantined town without getting noticed by the messenger boys who seemed to see and notice everything.

I don’t have time for a lecture on my failures, Jotham grumbled. An unexpected call like this? Something must be wrong with Marco. We never should have left him with Frank.

Like Kyrn and Jotham, Marco had been adopted into the Gate family in grade school. He was a teenager now, and he’d wanted to stay in Rocan to be near his friends, but the pox had changed all that.

Kyrn rotated his ankles and twisted side-to-side before taking off at a jog. There wasn’t space to run in the Protected realm, and he didn’t mind having a mile trek back to the city. Most of the Gate brothers loved running, and they used to compete in school. Giving up the space to run was a small sacrifice to save their kids from breeding.

When they crossed into town, there were a few people out and about. The park had a handful of kids running around and the bars and cafeteria had several patrons. A young messenger boy noticed them, cocked his head, then ran away. If the kid recognized them, he gave no sign, but he’d be able to describe them to the Constable if asked.

Dr. Frank’s house was near the border between Qu’Appelle and LeTroy, and Qu’Appelle had been cordoned off to keep the surviving population closer together. There were no lights