The Iron Altar Series
Box Set One - Books 1 to 3
Casey Lea
© Casey Lea 2016
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this book.
ISBN - 978-0-9922632-8-7
This novel is entirely a work of fiction.
The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authors’ imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
IceFlight – Book One
1
Taken
2
Meet and Greet
3
Alien Welcome
4
Loyalty
5
First Blood
6
Hopes and Dreams
7
A Complication
8
Snakes in Space
9
Out for a Walk
10
Bugs and Reptiles
11
Violation
12
Deadly Pact
13
Blast from the Past
14
How to get a Head
15
Assassination
16
The Hunt
17
The Fight
18
Partners
19
Friendly Fire
20
Framed
21
Jailbird
22
A New Ship
23
The Auction House
24
Sales Prep
25
A Promise Kept
26
Sold
27
Plasma Front
28
Ships That Pass in the Night
29
Kill Them All
30
Kill Them All Too
31
Mutiny
32
Future Deal
33
Reunion
34
Gratuity
35
Old Acquaintance
36
The Dance Goes On
37
Cold Blooded
38
Drafted
39
Hunted
40
On The Run
41
Quick Thinking
42
43
Out of the Frying Pan
44
Wheels Within
45
License to Kill
46
New Worlds
47
Planet Fall
48
No Going Back
49
Proposals
50
Traitor
51
Wedding Day Jitters
52
Confession
53
Betrayed
54
Plan B
55
Sunset
Frostbite – Book Two
1
The Beginning of the End
2
Take Two
3
Waiting
4
Revenge
5
Rescue
6
Farewell
7
A New Sanctuary
8
The Price of Friendship
9
Interrogation
10
Stowaway
11
Reunion
12
Family
13
On the Edge
14
You Shall go to the Ball
15
Old Acquaintances Should be Forgot
16
Freedom
17
Homecoming
18
Flirting With Commitment
19
How to get a Bride
20
Hunted
21
On Edge
22
Safely Home
23
Farewell Too
24
War
25
Bounty on the Rim
26
Trial by Combat
27
Bump in the Night
28
Ambush
29
Out and About
30
The Candyman
31
Working Girls
32
Smoke and Mirrors
33
The Last Chance
34
Hot Date
35
Reunion Too
36
Happy Families
37
A New Look
38
Changes
39
Flying Free
40
Rollercoaster
41
Confessions
42
And Yet So Far
43
Careful What You Wish For
44
Attack
45
The Contagion Spreads
46
A Plan Comes Together
47
Sacrifice
48
Fighting Back
49
The Freezing Dead
50
Where to now?
51
To the Rescue
52
Falling Apart
53
Improvising
54
The Devourer
55
Dynasty
56
Aftermath
57
Come Full Crescent
58
The Vote
59
A New Beginning
60
Ascension
Entangled – Book Three
1
Falling for You
2
Ambushed
3
The Cavalry
4
Facing the Fire
5
Trinity
6
Wild Ride
7
Anointed by Luck
8
Mob Rule
9
Haze on the Horizon
10
Aboard Horizon
11
Tea for Two
12
On Board with Nikareon
13
Darsey Two Times
14
A Reckoning
15
Execution
16
Home at Last
17
Taken
18
Zak on the Rim
19
Dancing into Danger
Betrayed
21
Traitor
22
On the Run
23
Unshielded
24
Playing Both Sides
25
Operation Save Darsey
26
Prisoner Transfer
&nb
sp; 27
Escape
28
Fake Darsey in the Wind
29
Hunted
30
Justice
31
Reunion
32
Dragon DNA
33
The Best-Laid Plans
34
Terminal Velocity
35
Too Late
36
Alone At Last
37
Under the Mountain
38
And Then There Were Two
39
It’s A Date
40
The Other Woman
41
Coming Home
42
Judgement
43
Banished
44
The Spider and the Fly
IceFlight – Book One
1
Taken
On her second mission past Jupiter, Science Officer Darsey Ice was abducted by aliens. She never saw it coming, although she was the first to see them arrive.
They showed on her screen as colors, replacing the black void of space ahead of her tiny craft. She started, then leaned forward and there was a moment of stillness, with her mind as blank as the void had been. What she was staring at unblinking was impossible. A rainbow vortex spun in front of her, growing with each turn to fill the monitor.
A hand fell on Darsey’s shoulder and she jumped, until it gave a warm, familiar squeeze. “What the hell is that?” Will murmured in her ear and she finally moved to relay her image to the main monitors. Red, gold and violet shot from every screen on the Victor's bridge, drawing a low whistle from Will.
Darsey looked up to offer him what she hoped was a steady smile and the ship’s engineer grinned back, before raising his eyebrows in amazement.
“You ever seen shit like that, Cap?” he drawled over his shoulder and Darsey turned further to check her Captain’s reply. The Victor’s leader was on the lip of his seat, glaring at the strange rainbow ahead. His face was statue still, apart from the scar that caught his upper lip in a permanent sneer. The disgusted look suited Hito, who tended to take anything unexpected as a personal insult.
Darsey’s smile became more natural and she swivelled back to her own screen. The Captain used to terrify her, but Will’s easy banter had made it clear that Hitoshi Moriwaki was actually a teddy bear. At least with his crew. She relaxed further and swiped her fingers across her screen to bring up a range of spectraI scans, but before she could learn more the impossible vortex began to spin faster. It gathered momentum and within seconds became a brilliant cone with a dark centre.
Darsey could only stare and even Will had nothing to say. All five of the Victor’s crew sat silent and transfixed. Lightning streaked the surface of the vortex as it turned with increasing speed and colors streamed toward their ship from a giant whirlpool hanging in space. Darsey swallowed hard, before managing to look from the funnel confronting them to the four men who shared her small, steel world.
“Science Officer Ice,” her Captain growled, “what readings can you get from that?”
Darsey gulped again, but managed to turn back to her view screen. Her motion seemed to cue another change in the image before them. The darkness at the centre of the glowing circle began to grow. It distended at the upper edge to become an arrow, and then a wedge. The new silhouette lengthened and then abruptly broke free, leaping forward into the swirling tunnel to grow with startling speed. A dark diamond, sharply flared along each edge, broke into the solar system. Darsey realized what it was at the same time as the ship’s engineer.
“Damn,” Will gasped, with his usual disregard for protocol. “It’s a ship.”
“What do you mean a ship?” the Captain demanded sharply.
“An alien ship,” Darsey agreed, and was surprised by the steadiness of her voice. “I’m analysing as fast as I can, but I think we should redeploy the sail. Full spread.”
“Indeed,” the Captain agreed grimly. “Deploy the sail, Pilot.”
“Solar sail deploying, sir,” Jeetan answered laconically, but his actions were quick and precise.
Darsey licked dry lips, while continuing to throw scan results at the main screen.
“Remind me why we colonists were so keen to get out here,” Will murmured behind her. “In a damn jerry-rigged sardine can, at that.”
“For the fun of doing this first,” Darsey answered, and this time her voice did tremble.
Will squeezed her shoulder again and leaned forward with a grin, his teeth flashing against dark skin. Darsey had a sudden irrational urge to kiss him, as if it might be her last chance, but instantly crushed the idea. This was no time for emotion. She looked back to her monitor, but was jerked from her work by the rattle of a hatch opening beside her. Had they been boarded? By… something?
Darsey crouched frozen in her seat, her eyes so wide she could hardly focus. A figure stood over her. It wore a bulbous white suit, hard and gleaming, with a curved helmet that reflected her face. She saw her mouth gaping even wider than her eyes and then thought returned. She was looking at a spacesuit. Her own spacesuit. It must have been ejected from storage by emergency release.
“Party clothes, people,” the Captain ordered, and Darsey concentrated on levering herself from her seat and into the rigid shell that stood over her. She slipped into that bright, white armour and it clicked shut, sealing around her.
Darsey shuffled forward to free herself from the extended arms of the suit's delivery cradle, grabbing the padding for her helmet as she went. She pulled that soft inner layer on brusquely, calmed by the routine actions, although the clinging fabric was always hard to position. The bulky protection for her head and face, which included computer interfaces, made it thick and unwieldy. However, the struggle was a familiar one and her heart had slowed to its normal rate by the time she finished.
A glance around the bridge calmed Darsey even more. Everyone was in their suit and Dr. Trilligar was already wearing his helmet. Trust Trill to do a rabbit and be the quickest dressed. He took good care of all the crew’s health, but always looked after himself first.
Darsey reached for her own helmet and glanced back at the video feed. Abruptly her pulse became glacial. She felt as if she had truly frozen. She stood completely still with her helmet clutched to her chest.
The alien ship had closed on them and it filled her screen. It was an enormous vessel, far bigger than anything mankind had ever sent into space. Dark specks appeared around it as aliens swarmed from the strange craft. They were abruptly lit by the white glare of an energy discharge. Two lines of light shot past the Victor, one on either side. Darsey blinked, but that was the only movement she could make. On her screen the attackers accelerated hard and their front ranks leapt into focus. It was clear they were humanoid, because they hurtled through the void without spacesuits of any kind. Somebody behind Darsey swore and then something hit them. Their small craft shuddered as it was tossed backwards through the dark.
Darsey was thrown from her feet. She was briefly weightless, before momentum slammed her into the shuddering floor. She skidded over it and her magnetic boots scrabbled for grip. She tumbled the length of the bridge to collide with the far wall and lay there stunned, while cracks appeared in the metal behind her.
Will pushed off to join her and tugged at her helmet with one hand, ignoring his own, but she was too frozen to help. He yelled at her over the rush of escaping air, his face pressed close to hers, but she still couldn't move. He tried to pry her fingers from her helmet, but she clung to it grimly.
Darsey forced herself to shape a single word that was impossible to hear over the wind. “You.” Her eyes moved between his bare head and his helmet, still dangling from his other hand. However he released it and it spun away in another blast that made the ship buckle.
Darsey’s eyes followed it vaguely. What was Will thinking? He needed his helmet, nee
ded to put it on now, but he grabbed for hers instead. He managed to pull it away from her using both hands, but she watched in confusion when he raised it over her head and tried to push it into place. Too late.
Before Darsey could convince him to save himself her air was gone. She drew a desperate breath, but instead of filling her lungs they were sucked empty. Will's hands flew to his throat and his cheeks seemed to collapse, even as his eyes bulged and his mouth opened in a silent scream.
Horror sliced through Darsey’s brain, freezing all thought and darkness tried to follow. The vacuum reached for her too, but before her blood could boil a shadow fell over her. She cowered away from that darkness, but the shade grew, stretching across the crumpled floor and then further still, up the far wall. She turned her head awkwardly in its padding to stare up at a hulking silhouette. This time, something had come for her.
2
Meet and Greet
Darsey Ice dangled helplessly, head down and eyes shut, lost to the world. Her mind floated all alone, serene and still with no link to its distant flesh. She was dimly relieved at such unexpected sanctuary, but, despite that, an innate stubbornness forced her to struggle for consciousness. The slow return to her body began with pain. Pain that drove through the darkness like headlights. Darsey moaned and something laughed in response. The laugh sounded achingly human, but Darsey knew it was not. She knew with soul deep certainty that the rest of her crew were dead.
She shuddered, helping her mind and body rediscover each other. That link strengthened, with an awareness of light and the grasp of impossibly huge hands. Alien hands that were hooked like claws in her armpits. She realized she was moving, the toes of her boots scuffing helplessly as she was dragged face down, along a smooth surface. Still blind and limp, she felt nausea rise, along with her last memory of Will. His face had looked so strange wearing a scream instead of a ready smile. Voices intruded on her private agony. Voices that seemed to speak English before breaking into rough laughter.
Insane, she thought sadly. Will would have loved it. Aliens using our language, aliens with a sense of humor, oh yeah.
She blinked hard, struggling against tears, and her eyes started to clear. She made an effort to focus, but failed. It didn’t matter. Darsey was far distant from her surroundings. She was locked in the past, reliving her ship’s last minutes. Her memories returned with gut-wrenching force and she let them take her, until they finally led her back to the vortex and the ship that first appeared as a diamond in the dark.
Darsey quivered with the realisation that she must be aboard that alien ship. One of her captors shifted a huge hand from the armpit of her suit to her wrist and his companion did the same on the other side, so that they could keep pulling her along in tandem. She was vaguely aware of a dirty lavender blur on either side that was matched by a stained cream floor passing far too close to her face. She realized she was being dragged along a corridor. That knowledge reoriented her, but, just as she had started to build a picture of where she was, her surroundings changed.