Publication date: March 10th, 2026
Synopsis:
Thirty years ago, an impossible transmission pierced the cosmos. Hidden within it were instructions for a device no one fully understood--an extragalactic Telegraph built to answer the call.
On a distant world in neutral space, humanity and its former enemies resolved to build the device, a rare moment of unity and a calculated gamble that shared purpose might overcome politics.
The answer is not what anyone expected.
The colony is devastated. Reality fractures. Technology fails. People vanish without a trace--among them soldiers, citizens, and voices no civilization can afford to lose. Aboard the warship Banterra, Captain Heron Agathon is dispatched into the unknown to search for survivors and the truth behind the signal.
Beyond the galaxy's edge, something older than civilization is observing humanity's first steps into the uncharted--measuring what it will become when fear, power, and principle collide. The answers lie in the dark between stars. And the truth behind the signal is older--and nearer--than anyone suspects. There is no going back.
The human adventure is about to begin.
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At the urging of the Arx and Anchorage One, President Rein has rejected a proposal made by the Drazenbor head of state to permit a Drazenbor and Sarii Olgan expeditionary force to deploy with the Republican fleet. In a statement released by opposition leader Benjamin Riskaar, Riskaar praised the president's commitment to defending Republican national security interests. President Rein is permitting a small number of Drazenbor and Sarii Olgan advisors to travel with the fleet. -- The Daily Martian
Three minutes later.
A rapidly spinning ball of plasma made full contact with the bridge and splashed against the shields the way a wave does on a rock. Lights shattered, spitting shards of glass like shrapnel. Sparks rained down, conduits sputtering. The domed light directly above Agathon and Commander Coden groaned seconds before it fell, forcing the two men to leap from their seats. Consoles overloaded. Some screens erupted in gibberish; others faded to black. A girder came loose, swinging down. I flung Lieutenant Kyo to the floor, and his face pressed hard into the grated deck plating.
When the shaking stopped and the fires extinguished, the bridge lay in shambles. Wires, cords, and bundles of cables dropped down, hanging in massive, tangled streams pooling on the floor. With the air filtration system inoperative, the smoke had nowhere to go, choking all but Vidya, burning their lungs ad scorching their eyes. Every face and hand had a scratch on it. Blood trickling from nastier wounds. Uniforms were blackened, burned, and frayed at the seams.
Pushing himself off the floor, Captain Agathon brushed his wavy hair out of his face. Swishing saliva around in his mouth, he tasted blood. Glancing down, he saw dozens of tiny burning holes on the right sleeve of his jacket.
"Medical team to the bridge," he said somberly, extending over the wrecked dome light to reach the headset.
Vidya alone looked to be untouched by the damage. "Initializing emergency lights. Dorsal shields at 20 percent."
Commander Coden got up, dusting the metal shavings out of his hair, then tried to pry open a door and vent the smoke strangling them. Lieutenant Colby was slumped over the navigation console, arms draped over the front, a substantial piece of glass jutting out of her side, likely piercing a kidney. Kyo lay on the floor motionless, his head cocked at an impossible angle.
The Morpheus and Hope had been destroyed the instant they exited the wormhole. Agathon couldn't imagine there was anything left. Captain Haakon and the Challenger were listing and without power; a number of hull breaches had ejected most of the crew into space. The frigate Buran was a tough, old ship and still in the fight despite the gaping hole that had punched clean through. Captain Hale and the Apollo were lining up with the nearest attacker, bow trained on what they assumed to be the command-and-control center.
"What is she doing?" Agathon muttered, winching as he noticed the pain shooting up his arm.
His wrist was broken.
"Hale! Hale, what are you doing?" he shouted into the receiver.
Vidya's commentary was crucial: "Captain, Apollo's reactor is critical! They're losing containment!"
Agathon looked past Vidya. An arc of fire ripped through the Apollo's hull from the inside out. Another and another lacerated the ship, the metal rippling as secondary explosions sent bubbles of fire into the vacuum.
"I'm detecting lifeboat transponders," Vidya said. "They're abandoning ship."
"Captain Hale, please respond!"
His pleas were met only with static. Then the Apollo accelerated, hurling itself into the alien ship. The ensuing supernova obliterated both vessels.
Hull panels were streaking off the Solitude like comets, cones of fire and smoke trailing behind. Silver Arrow fighters vaporized by beams shot from the attacker's central sphere, several at a time, reduced to ash. Slicing through space, the gimbaled wing spun around as the alien ship made its attack run, lobbing miniature suns at the Solitude. The keel arched high upon impact.
"Her back... it's broken," Agathon gaped.
The Buran jockeyed alongside the Banterra, firing forward missiles and gun batteries. The Albatross was long since gone. Under orders from Ekwueme, the supply ship that had followed them made for interstellar space. Whether they had been pursued, Agathon did not know.
The color in Vidya's face drained. "Oh no," she bemoaned and heaved the bulk of the ship hard to port.
One of the Buran's warp coil nacelles was hewn clean off and tumbling toward them. Striking the starboard ventral section, and the Banterra lurched forward. Spinning, about its axis, and no one saw the flames engulfing the frigate as it broke apart. Knocked off his feet, Agathon soared, slamming into the consoles at the base of the observation window. A siren blared, red lights flashing, the centrifugal forces plastering the crew against bulkheads. Stretching out her arms, Vidya looked like she was trying to brace herself, as if she too were bound to fly about the bridge. Firing the maneuvering thrusters, she slowed the ship and brought them about.
MACAULAY CHRISTIAN is a graduate of the University of Arizona where he received his bachelor's degree in political science with an emphasis in American government and international relations as well as a minor in classical (Greco-Roman) history. He is also an alumnus of the fraternity Phi Delta Theta, where he served in a variety of leadership positions, including two terms as president. Macaulay received a master's of legal studies from Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law before beginning a career in the commercial construction industry. He has worked on a variety of projects, from airports to data centers. Macaulay lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and their two dogs. In March 2025, Macaulay released the science fiction novel "Holindrian & The Human Revolution". He is currently pursuing a doctorate in public administration where he is researching the impacts of public education and policy shifts on the industry and investigating recommendations to rectify the on-going skilled labor shortage across the country.
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