Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson [0]
The Saga of Seven Suns Book 4
Kevin J. Anderson
Acknowledgments
By the fourth book in the Saga of Seven Suns, the list of people who have helped me begins to rival the epic cast of characters. In particular, I would like to thank the editorial squad of Jaime Levine, Devi Pillai, John Jarrold, Melissa Weatherill, and Ben Ball; expert advisers and just plain hard workers Catherine Sidor and Diane Jones; sharp-eyed reader Geoffrey Girard; agents John Silbersack, Robert Gottlieb, Kate Scherler, and Kim Whalen at Trident Media Group. And, as always, my wife Rebecca Moesta for keeping my writing, and my life, on the best possible path.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2005 by WordFire, Inc.
All rights reserved.
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ISBN: 0-7595-1516-6
First eBook Edition: July 2005
The Story So Far
After the alien hydrogues attacked the sentient worldforest on Theroc, human colonists struggled to pick up the pieces. Green priests, telepathically linked to the worldtrees, were psychologically stunned; many of their volunteers who served the Earth Defense Forces (EDF) abandoned their posts and returned home to the devastated forests.
Next, the hydrogues turned their antagonism against the faeros, a fiery alien race that lives within stars. While hydrogues and faeros engaged in battle on planets and suns, King Peter and Queen Estarra announced a major new military initiative from their Palace on Earth: The EDF would launch more Klikiss Torches—doomsday weapons capable of imploding gas giants—a test of which inadvertently started the entire hydrogue war. Also, following the example of the Ildiran military hero Adar Kori’nh, the EDF would build a fleet of kamikaze rammers to be flown by new-model Soldier compies against hydrogue warglobes. As King Peter delivered his message, the dangerous, and sometimes murderous, Chairman Basil Wenceslas quietly watched him for any mistakes.
Tasia Tamblyn, a Roamer who had joined the EDF, was chosen to deliver the first new Klikiss Torch. Unknown to Tasia, her friend Robb Brindle and a handful of other humans were imprisoned in a crystalline hydrogue city at the core of the targeted gas giant. There the Friendly compy DD, held by the sinister Klikiss robots, managed to speak with Robb. Just before Tasia’s Torch weapon ignited the clouds, the hydrogues evacuated the gas planet, and the Klikiss robots and DD fled.
Meanwhile, Tasia’s brother Jess found himself marooned on an isolated water planet after his ship was destroyed by hydrogues. In order to keep him alive, his secret cargo of wentals—strange water entities—infused his body with their energies. With the help of the wentals, Jess built an exotic ship and flew away in search of his lost love Cesca Peroni, the Speaker of the Roamer clans.
In the Roamer capital of Rendezvous, where Cesca struggled to keep the clans together, the scout Nikko Chan Tylar brought proof that the EDF was preying on Roamer cargo ships, stealing their supplies of stardrive fuel (ekti) and destroying the vessels. Outraged at these acts of piracy, the Roamers cut off all trade with the Terran Hanseatic League. Cesca delivered an ultimatum to the Hansa government: Earth would receive no more stardrive fuel until the culprits were identified and punished.
The Roamers themselves kept a few EDF detainees, whom they had rescued from the recent battle in the rings of Osquivel. Patrick Fitzpatrick III, a spoiled blueblood, was a particularly unhappy prisoner, despite the flirtations of Zhett Kellum, beautiful daughter of Del Kellum, the clan leader in charge of the Osquivel shipyards. Kellum’s crew also reprogrammed salvaged EDF Soldier