Book 1

Neptune's Revenge

Prologue

Unknown star system

3 years after Rift transport

Rex Gordon was propped up against the wet dark green bark of a tree, with thick broad leaves, and that had limbs on the top 20 percent of the massive living thing. He was waiting with his butt sitting in cold wet mud and odd shaped leaves. Most people would have said this was a bad thing, and would have had a list of problems doing this but not Rex. He was a wilderness scout by birth, raising, and temperament. He was trained in the arts of those skills required for this type of work. He loved this part of his job, and he had missed it for a long time. He just could think better without being around other people, but he could do this without risking his mission. This was because he could almost feel this surroundings, and know when it changed. Rex was almost invisible to anyone looking his way, when he was not moving. He was so good that with a little technology, even with those with aids to use. He was hard to see by them. The outer layer of his clothing was a ghillie suit that was made by his own hand, of materials that were around him in the natural world with a few items from home. The next layer was a woodland camouflage poncho. It was made of high tech plastics and fabrics that was supper strong. It would have turn aside any damage that might have been caused by any 20th Century man portable weapon made, without leaving a mark on the poncho. But the poncho was meant to fulfill two other functions on this mission. One, it was to help keep the person warm and dry on this wet and damp planet. The other task, was to protect the book sized computer he was carrying from the elements. He had been given the task to pass the computer on to a group that Rex was now waiting on for the last few days, and nights in these woods. The last layer was a set of Ultra 300 Huntsman's Choice a one peace combat jumpsuit. This would stop a man portable rail gun burst once, before it could reach the bearers skin under the jumpsuit. It a second burst came, it would be only so much tissue paper before it hit his softer body under its cloth. He could have brought along a set of heavier unpowered combat armor on this mission, if he had wanted to. But that would have interfered with his mission to sneak around, and avoid being found out by people and things. You know the ones that would not like that he was there and on his mission.

It was dark again now, as he waited form the group he had been told to contact. The quarry would not be coming out, now that the sun had gone down on this cold world. He was waiting for a wood cutting party from the band of refuges that had set up a shanty town nearby. They would not be able allowed to come out after the sun set on this cold world by there guards. It was so dark that you could not see your hand literally in front of your face below the green canopy. It was hard to explain how dark it was without a moon or stars to provide some light. To people who were used to living in a city with street lights and other reflected light. He was used to low light condition and liked it that way, even when he had a solid roof over his head. With the cover of the dark and damp air to control the spread of sound, he adjusted a bit more against the tree so that he was more comfortable

"What was this, the start of the third winter?" He thought to himself, as he made a slight adjustment to his body's position against the tree and mud. That would make it the 6th winter, since he had attached himself to the head master of the ship called "Neptune's Revenge". That had been when it had made a port call in Baton Rouge early one night. The ship had just completed towing in a Slaving ship, which had chosen the wrong target to capture this time. Then the catchers, had become the catchies very quickly. Rex needed to get out of town and they looked like the right kind of people to him. From what he could find out in the short amount of time he had, the head master of that ship would hire someone off the dock. They could work off the cost of the passage as a crewmember, but he was also known as a fair if hard man. Rex was on the run for the Coalition States, and they had a very long reach. They did not like it when one of their troopers made a run for it, or deserted, or AWOL as some would call it. They would hunt him down with dog boys, and anyone else that wanted a quick payday. When they caught him, they would make a very painful and public example out of him. He knew this, because he had seen it happen a dozen times in his young life already. They also would do it to anyone they caught helping the AWOL (absent without leave) Coalition solider.

Rex did not shake physically, but he did have to do a quick mental adjustment. So he looked up to the sky above him. He reason he had selected this particular spot to get some sleep, was that he could see the clouds threw the tree limbs and leaves over his head. The hole looked to have been made by a lighting strike maybe months ago. It was not much, but even this planet had to have clear skies some times. When it did clear, he like looking up into the strange colored night sky over his head. He then would let his mind go back in time. To a land a lot different than this one but not so long ago, that was an odd thing to get used to.

Rex Gordon had been your classic CS Trooper. If he was not the poster boy for the Coalition States Military, he was very close to that ideal. He had been a young kid from the deep and dark woods of south Illinois. He also believed with his whole heart, that Earth was for human's not dimensional beings or D-Bees and magic users. He would work very hard and put his very life on the line, so that they would leave his planet. If they left feet first, well that was okay with him. He had been assigned to a military outpost in the middle of nowhere middle Missouri, for his first assignment out of the CS training camp. His job had been to hunt down, and then report the location of any Magic users or D-Bees he found back to his home base. He had been good at his job, not great. Even he would admit that to himself, in no one else. All of that changed one day, when he was tracking something new in his area. The first that he knew something was wrong, was when an 11 foot tall winged Gargoyle drop out of a tree overhead and started ripping into his Dead Boy armor. It was grabbing and ripping off one part of his armor at a time with absurd ease. He was doing his best to defend himself, but he was way over matched and he knew it. He was about to die at the literal hands of this monster, and there was nothing he could do about but bleed, scream, and finally die. He was about to pass out and die, when he barely noticed a lightning bolt fly over his prostrated body. It had struck the monster on top of his down looking head right between the ears. Then the world went black and Rex was out of the battle, and out of time.

The next few days are still a mix of foggy dreams and flash of the people who helped him, still to this day. One face was centered in his mind more than any of the others. He thought she might be an angle to either take him to heaven or act as his guardian. He had heard about that happing before, to a couple of other troopers he had worked with before. The unknown local people were the ones who saved him, took care of him, and also healed him for several days before he came out of his dream state. He was horrified to find out that he had not been saved by humans as he had first thought, but by D-Bees. They were same type of beings that he had been hunting and killing for years now. They looked almost like humans, even up close but they were not human. They were a type of Elves, which had set up a primitive village in the deep woods generations ago. They just wanted to be left alone, but the Gargoyle had been causing enough trouble in the local area to cause them to act. That they had to use their magic skills to stop its rampaging and killing. That had been how they found him, with the monster ripping into him. He had not been strong enough to make his own way back to his base alone, so they let him stay and heal. The chief of the tribe along with most of the little village, was not happy having a CS trooped staying amongst them. But they also had rules about helping those in need, and those rules won out. The angel that had the thought had been in his dreams, turned out to be one of the Elf's by the name of Zrara. It was her home that he had been sleeping in, while he healed from the attack.

To pass the time while he healed, Rex worked on this damaged Dead Boy armor that the Elves had stored for him in an empty mud and wood hut. He would also spend time out in the woods, with the other Elves as they hunted. He was not a magic user, but he had weapons and the skills to use them. In this ruined world everyone was need to work, if the village was to survive any lean times. They would teach him more about the woods and how to move in them. They knew way more about the deep woods, than anyone he had ever met before in his life. And they were willing and able to pass some of those skills to him. They let him stay longer in their village than they had to, as he soaked up every bit of knowledge he could about being able to work in the deep woods. Every day he spent there in the village he fell deeper in love with Zrara. He was well into the second month, when word came to the little village from a D-Bee scout about him. It said that the CS had put a reward for any information related to Rex and what might have happen to him.

When Rx found out about this, from Zrara that evening. He arraigned to meet with the head man of the camp, and they made arrangements for him to leave the next night. Zrara would walk him out of their controlled area of the woods, to an area that Rex knew well enough on his own. This was so that he could find his own way home, and not risk her life if he was found early by the CS Military. Before they were about split up in the dark woods, Rex told Zrara what he felt to her. The feelings were reciprocated by her, very reciprocated. Very quickly plans were made, after a slight delay of two days of it being just the two of them in one tent alone in the woods. Rex made his way back to his base alone in body, but not in his mind. He gave a well rehearse story about the attack of the monster, but hid the fact that D-Bees had help him recover afterwards. He said that it had been a loose group of humans, which he had found after the attack. If he could have, he would had hid the fact that he needed help at all. But the damage to his Dead Boy suit was too extensive, to not have been hurt inside the armored skin. Zara been able to punch holes in several practice stories before working out this one.

After being debriefed for a few weeks straight, Rex was returned to light duty at his old post with a pat on the back and a fat bank account balance. Rex had developed a new operational plan that if his supervisor found out, would get him drawn and quartered and that was not a figure of speech. He would still report in D-Bees that he could find in the deep woods. It was only that now, he would make sure that they were threats to the peace or otherwise evil in nature. Instead of them just being "not from around here" and reported back to his base. If they were not evil, then he would just let them continue about their business none the wiser to him tracking them. He would be gone for months at a time, just like always once he was cleared for full duty again. That happened only two weeks after being sent back to his old unit. He was just doing his duty, but he was also was spending most of the time with the Elves and Zrara in particular. The two of them would travel the woodlands together, and report back to Rex's home base via a radio message. His outpost had no idea that he was not alone when he reported in. Most likely they would not have carried if he was working with someone human, he just never brought it up with his higher command.

Rex and Zrara were married eight months after Rex had been returned to full duty. Rex was spending more and more time away from his post after that event, which his command did not know about. He still had the highest number of contact that led to an engagements with D-Bees than any two other scouts in west side of the CS zone. In the CS Military, if you're very good at your job, then a lot of the times you can get away with being a little odd. That is as long as you produced at that level, and a wall would fall on you when your production went down. A lot of times it was a case of the CS command, giving then enough rope to hang themselves very good. His post commander even authorized him a Skycycle and the training to use it effectively. Rex had pitched it, so that he could stay out longer and travel farther. That along with a nice credit bonus was working out very nicely for the newlyweds. He was not as good on the cycle, as someone whose job it was just to use that type of cycle full time. But he was motivated to learn how to use it better every week. It would also let him spend more time with his wife in her village, using the evil looking thing. It would turn out later, that having that same cycle would cause him a great deal of pain in the near future.

He was laying besides Zrara in their shared home on a night, months later. As they were chatting, she as cast a spell of some kind that turned the roof clear. Now they could see the stars and moon above their bed. Rex had been using his improved access, and higher pay to get high tech gear to improve the whole village. He was taken care of his family first, so that this house was better equipped with modern convinces than his barracks room back on base. The other homes were not as well supplied, but that was improving as he made more bonuses. That was causing the "issue" tonight. He was directed, to check out a report of a mercenary group that might be using stolen Coalition States equipment. Zrara did not want him to do it and stay home. He reluctantly left the loving and warm arms of his love, to mount his cycle. He was off look for the unit in question, before the sun rose on the horizon. He would keep the image of her face in his mind as she waved, and watch him disappeared into the wood line. He was already planning or more like hopping, what they would do when he returned in a few weeks. He was thinking that this was just one of those "have to pay the bills" moments that other married couples he knew, talked about.

He had been out and starting on his third week of the search for the tech users, when he was recalled back to his home base. The unit in question, had crossed into another unit's area of responsibility. That area commander, did not want anyone else poaching on their hunting grounds so Rex was pulled back. The unit that could take out the maybe mercenary unit, and recapture the CS equipment would get a nice little cut of the bounty. That meant that the competition was not always friendly, and blue on blue were not unknown event for CS Army. Rex's newish commander, was his new commander because of one of those same said Blue on Blue events. Rex would not have looked forward to seeing his boss, if another one of those events happened so soon under her watch. Rex was also okay with this because, he could do a quick check in and resupply. Before going back out to scout "his area" that had not been check in some time because of his last mission. In other words he could go back to spend time with his hidden wife.

He dropped his Skycycle below tree level miles from his outpost, it was a fairly steep dive from 1000 feet to 10 feet off the ground. He was using a game trail, which made it very hard to be seen from the air ways above the tree tops. He stayed on it until he got to the place he was looking for. He used a special cloth, taken from CS stores to drape over and cover the grounded Skycycle. It was protection form any unwanted eyes, on both the ground level and above it. He made his way slowly to position that he could view the military outpost in secret, Zrara's training had help him identify. This was a habit that he had gotten into, when he started spending more time in the D-Bee village. He was pretty sure that if they found out about him, they would pick him up right after a returning mission. He was looking for any signs that he had been discovered, and they were going to take him down. He scanned the base looking for things, like more guards or more heavy weapons pulled out of the outpost armory. He had radioed in that he would be coming back to base with 24 hours. So they would know that he was inbound, and would be there soonish enough time for them to set up an ambush for him.

The base itself looked normal to his eyes, very few people were up and about at this time of the morning. All of the main heavy weapons, were in in the equipment pools. Except for the normal amount of Powered Armor or Robots on patrol around the woodland outpost. It was when he was watching one of the patrolling Robots, this time a UAR-1 Enforcers. When it walked by the main gate of the Outpost. A previous, as in predating Rex's assignment to the base, Outpost Commander had taken a liking to taking the heads of any "Enemy's to the State" they took down. He then would put, those heads on metal pole outside the gate. It had been carried on by the fallow on commanders, to this Outpost and maybe a few others. The poles would then line the road/path that led to the main gate of the base from the wood line.

There had been a major increase in the number of poles outside the gate, since the last time he had left this Outpost. His electronic binoculars played over the back of one of the pole mounted heads. It had slightly pointed ears, and he got a chill running down his spine. He ran the field glasses down the row of metal poles, starting at the gate and working closer to his location in the wood line. He almost dropped the expensive device, as he left his hide site. The walk back to the cycle was the longest walk he had ever done in his life. He had to keep forcing himself not to bolt into a full on sprint. It could draw attention, that he did not want right then. He had to use all the will power in his body to not just jump on the hotrod, and floor it to the crafts maximum speed it could produce. He need to get to the village that his wife called home. It would not have matter if he had red lined the engine. He just would have blown his cover story, and deep down in his bones he knew it. He just had to know for sure; maybe it was a different village of the same type of D-Bee.

The smoke and fire had cleared out a long time ago, so Rex had little warning of what he was going to see. Only a few of the flying carrion eaters were still hanging around. Rex landed is war wagon in the center of the decimated village. Bodies were everywhere, and it did not matter to the CS if you were a combatant are not. If you were a D-Bee, or a magic user, or were even close to one of these you were but the sword. Well maybe the Rail gun was more accurate than sword. The bodies had been left as they fell after being shot, just minus the heads. He found what he thought might have been Zrara's body lying in dirt next to a burnt out hut. It looked like she had died defending a group of the village younglings, and Rex could make out that she had not died alone. There were only two things that Rex could do now.

The first thing, was bury what was left of the bodies according to the rules he knew that Zrara peoples fallowed. He was cold inside as he moved first the dirt, and then the animal eaten remains. It took him three days and nights to dig the three dozen holes. One for each of the members of the village that had been his part-time home. After completing that task he went about the second task. He might have been a mundane when it came to magic, but he knew what plants to eat and which ones to avoid even before he met Zrara. He spent the rest of the day, and into the night without any rest collecting what he wanted from the dark places in the woods. There was not any safe way to get back to base after he finished the task. Traveling the wilds at night and alone was not the way to travel in this broken world. That is if one wanted to say alive so, he put his head down and tried to sleep next to his grounded CS Skycycle. Sleep did not come easily, and Rex could feel the ghost walking around him as he tried to rest stretched out on the dirt.

Early the next morning, even before the sun had fully risen above the eastern horizon. He left for the last time. The home that he had made with his loving wife, and her people in the wilds that had taken over the center of the continent. As he made his way back to the military base he reran the plan, he had come up with in his heads step by step. Most of it had already been done, even before Zrara and her people had been killed. He had a plan, that if he had been found out by CS Security to have been involved with the Elves. But it still needed some polishing work, to fill in all the needs he wanted the plan to cover now. As he had done those long days ago, Rex parked and hides the hover/jet cycle deep in the woods. He did not go to the over watch location of the outpost this time. He just walked out of the wood line out of sight of the CS military outpost. He made it down to the main road, and then turned to walk down the dirt road and headed towards the outpost main gate. He did not look up at the heads as he past them as they slowly moved in the breeze. He did not know if he could keep up the act. If he saw her face looking back at him with dead eyes, or empty sockets as he made his way down the road. The anger was building up at each skull and post shadow he passes walking to the massive gate that limited the entrance to the outpost.

He was challenged by the gate guards 50 feet from the entrance, but it took only a few minutes from him to be inside the camp after the challenge was accepted. When asked by the guard about his hover cycle ride? He just told them that it had been wrecked, due to a run in with a D-Bee monster three days ago on his way back to base. He had been around the block enough to know what D-Bees could do what. So he told him it had been a winged gargoyle that flew off, after the run in. He was told that he had to report to his commander about the "missing" cycle, as soon as he made it through the gate. She was not happy with the report, till Rex got to the part that it was only damaged. He had hoped to take a cargo truck back out to retrieve the damaged cycle, before it was found and maybe taken by someone else. This mollified the commander, and allowed for the next part of the plan to be put into action.

She changed the subject on Rex mid brief, and started bragging about the fun that Rex had missed while he had been out. That was when they had raided this dangerous D-Bee villages some distance away from the camp. If you took what the officer was saying for a facts, it would have seemed that the village was next in size and threat to the great city of Tolkeen. Not some little place of mud and wood huts just trying to live in a strange world they had been dumped onto. In fact the outpost had lost three CS soldiers and six dog soldiers killed and another ten wounded to varying degrees. He had to fight the urge not to reach across the office desk, and choke the little weasel of a woman to death with his bare hands. He had to keep his cool, and nod at the right spots as the commander prattle along. She was more interested in telling her story, instead of quizzing him about his. He wanted revenge, he needed to have revenge. And not only against this woman, but the entire group that had attacked his wife and her kin for no reason. It was some very good acting up to a point, when he thought he was finally about to blow. He was able to fake that he was tired, and needed some sleep in a nice clean and safe bed. The Commander seemed to be let down that she could not continue going down the list of what they had done to the village of D-Bees. It made since, and now she could smell the sweat and dirt on the man in front of her metal desk. So she relented, and let him leave the office so that he could take care of himself and protect her nose. She made a note to finish the story that she was very proud of, at a later date. When Rex left the Local Area commanders office, he had to take an even longer shower than he had planned to. He was trying to scrub off the skin crawling sensation, which he still felt after leaving the Outpost Commander's office. There was not enough hot water, or soap to do the job to his satisfaction. He had to be kicked out of the shower room by the towel guy, so the line could continue to the water head.

Over the next few days Rex went about his business, like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. First change he made was not that big, but it was different for him. That was checking his military pay, and start withdrawing the funds so he could physically carry the money. When asked about the withdrawals. He made up a story that that he was planning a trip to the city, and he need it to buy the tickets and hotel rooms. It took a few trips to the cash window, one each day. That was because they could only give out so much cash, to each person each day. It was supposed to help fight the black market and any gambling. It did not work but was a regulation so it had to be fallowed. When he finally drained the accounts to the minimum amount needed to keep them open, if he closed the accounts it would draw attention. He had to leave some funds in them, just like if he was coming back to them. It was not much, no more than 25 credits in each of the three accounts he had in his name. 75 credits was a lot of money to a farm boy, but it had to be done.

Next change, was that he stopped by the bases water cisterns on one side of the camp early in morning, well before the sun came up. He also moved the cargo truck the commander released for him to use to the main gate of the camp. He was not coming back to this place, but he only packed down the things that had sentimental value or he might be able to sale later. Again he could not take everything, because than word would get around that he was acting strange. He loaded the items and tied them down in the cargo area, under some spare parts and tools he "might need" to fix his "damaged" flying machine. This was the last night he was going to be on the grounds of the organization, he no longer belonged to in his mind. This left him with the hardest thing to do, last. He just want to get it over with, but he had a plan and he had to stick to it if he wanted to live. He had to sneak into the office of the base commander during the night. He left a beautiful flowering plant that had never evolved on this earth. It was as deadly as it was pretty to look at, but very few people knew it. The room would be a toxic trap in a few hours, as the flower released its pollen in the enclosed room. The flower trap was waiting for the commander to start her work the next day.

Early the next morning Rex had a large hot meal at the Outpost only mess hall, but did not drink anything that came from the water systems. The camp was already dying, they just did not know it yet. Next he drew his new out of the box, old style Dead Boy body armor and weapons out of the armory. With one last check of the truck, what was called a PMCS for reasons he had no idea why, he was ready. Rex was out the main gate, before the rest of the place had finished the morning physical fitness hour. After making it to the woods and out of site of the camp, he stopped the truck in a clearing off to one side off the road. He quickly secured and hides the truck, and then walked back to where he had hidden the cycle. Not surprising it was still in place with only a few leaves moved since he had left in here. He flew it back to truck, then landed it in an empty part of the exposed flat cargo bed. He spent the next hour covering and tying down the warmachine. He kept at it unit he was happy that it was will hidden and secure. He drove all night, and not once did he look back behind him. It took him two days to make it to the Black Market shop he had worked with before on an off the books mission for the CS. He only slept for a few hours during those two days of driving. He sold the Skycyle, the parts, and the tools he had taken for cash, new identification papers, and more importantly information. With that all in hand he headed farther south in the now lighter cargo truck.

He used his cargo truck as cover and carried "stuff", as long as it was going in the direction he wanted to go. He would come and go with convoys, never sticking with one that long. He almost burned his cover when he made sure that they avoided the massive locked rift in old Saint Louis Gateway Arch. It also kept them away from the large CS military base there to counter anything coming through the gateway. It was a hard trip south, after all it was not like the golden or even 20th century with super highways or even halfway maintained paved roads, which used to spider web threw the area. When he made it toward southern part of the old state of Arkansas, he started to get nervous again. The CS state of El Dorado was the newest state in the Coalition, but it still had a very lager military base filled with Coalition State troopers. Rex was able to catch a cargo a convoy heading south from a medium sized town on the out skirts of Fort El Dorado by mere chance. He was now heading to the Gulf, to find a sea port that would help him hide from the long arm of the CS. If all else failed he would move down the coast to Huston town going cross country if he had to. That had been his original plan but he had not counting on how hard it would be avoiding the CS military. He just lucked out and hooked up with the perfect crew at his first stop on the sea coast. It might have been fate or something else at work. He did not care at the time and he put little thought into it. It just was the way it was, and he was happy with that.

Rex shook himself, and let the tears that those memories caused roll down his face. He shifted again and try to relax. He was now below the bushes cover rock pile next to the tall oak like trees. Now in a more horizontal position, he was as comfortable and also safe from anyone walking down the dirt road or walking in the woods to either side. You would have to step right on him, to know that he was there on task. That was if he made a noise after you stepped on him. In the dark you would likely just think your foot stumbled on a root or something. He turned on a small battery powered drying unit under his covering. It would use IR radiation to dry his cloths and the ground below him in a few seconds. When the built in sensor detected that the area was dry it would shut off the IR projector automatically. Then it would vent the excess humidity from between his layers of protection to the outside air. He had enough layers that his body heat would keep him warm, as if he was back in his regular bed once it was dry. If he got too cool in the night he could kick on a little heating unit that ran off rechargeable batteries to fix it. After setting his internal clock to wake him up before the sun rose. He went to sleep with loving thoughts, of his wife to take him into dream land. At least for a few hours, then who knew what he would dream about?