Fallen Metropolis (Omnibus Edition) Read online

  Fallen Metropolis

  Omnibus Edition

  By

  Matthew J. Barbeler

  Copyright © Matthew J. Barbeler 2019

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance it bears to any individual, outside of those who chose a reward tier in the Metro 7 Kickstarter campaign to become characters in the novel, is entirely coincidental. Any resemblance this work bears to any situation or event is entirely coincidental.

  Produced by Matthew J. Barbeler

  Cover art licensed through Adobe Stock.

  Cover art font licensed through Creative Commons (obtained through DaFont)

  [email protected]

  www.matthewjbarbeler.com

  This book is for Hellscream.

  Thank you for the gift of change, and the will to survive.

  May your grave be quiet.

  Acknowledgements

  A huge thank you to all of the wonderful folks who backed the Metro 7 Kickstarter back in 2013/2014. Without you, this book wouldn’t exist.

  Thank you to everyone who’s read and loved both Metro 7, The Fall of Metropolis Seven and The Traveler in the last handful of years. Your passion for this novel has made me want to revisit this world and tell even more stories here.

  This improved and revamped version of the original novels will act as the springboard for the new sequels I have planned.

  Foreword from the Author

  These two books you’re about to read were originally published a few years ago. Metro 7 was published in 2014. The Fall of Metropolis Seven was published in 2015. The Traveler appeared in Futurevision, an anthology published in 2017.

  Since then, this series has received a wonderful response from readers, and sequels are in the works. I thought it was time for a refresh, a new look, and a brand-new combined Omnibus of both books to really kick this series into high gear.

  You can read either of these books in whichever order you want.

  Reading the full-length Fallen Metropolis novel first will leave give you a SciFi-Action-Horror thrill ride full of mystery, crazy monsters and heroic space marines.

  The Fall of Metropolis Seven is set before Fallen Metropolis. Reading it first will give you a creepy tale of alien infection that leads directly into the events Fallen Metropolis. It might spoil a couple of key mysteries from the novel, but it might also provide another level to your enjoyment.

  The Traveler is a bit of a side story – you could read it at any point, but I think it would be best received after reading Fallen Metropolis.

  Either way, I’m sure you’ll have a great time.

  Thank you for checking out the Fallen Metropolis Omnibus Edition!

  Matthew

  Book One

  Fallen Metropolis

  Chapter One

  The Icarus flew through the darkness of space. They were on their way home, back to Alliance military space, with extremely volatile cargo in the hold of the ship. That made Arak Nara, the Icarus’s pilot, very nervous. As long as they got out of the Arcturus Sector without incident, everything would be just fine.

  An alert appeared on the screen in front him. What it said didn’t make sense.

  DISTRESS BEACON DETECTED

  ORIGIN: HUMAN

  INITIATE RESPONSE PROTOCOL?

  The signal was a decoy. It had to be. Human ships in the Arcturus Sector always kept to themselves. The only humans who dared venture into the territory of the Vartalen were pirates, smugglers and other opportunistic freelancers, just like them. They would be smart enough not to broadcast their location to the whole sector. They would have at least changed the origin species to Vartalen or Arcturon. Broadcasting a human distress beacon was like ringing the dinner bell at a buffet.

  The Arcturus Sector was a hostile place for any member of humanity. The relations between the human and Vartalen species had never been peaceful. A human ship took great risk when entering their sector of space. But there were many dark deals to be made and plenty of money to change hands. Not just credits, the currency of all Galactic Council worlds, but more esoteric currencies. It attracted only the foolhardiest human adventurers and freelancers.

  “What are they, fucking stupid?” Arak asked the empty bridge. His words echoed off the smooth walls. The bridge of the Icarus consisted of a central pilot’s chair that looked out in front of the ship, flanked by two co-pilot modules that were only used when engaging the ships higher functions. Behind the pilot’s chair was the command center which comprised of the Captain’s chair and the central control module of the ship.

  When the bridge was full, it felt like Arak had a family again. But when it was just him and the vast expanse of space, things felt a little lonelier.

  That was okay. Arak was used to loneliness.

  Arak rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands. When he opened his eyes that message was still there.

  Damn it.

  There were only two ways this could go.

  One, humans really were in trouble in this sector. In their desperation they turned on the distress beacon. If they did that here in the Arcturus Sector, shit really must have hit the fan.

  Two, someone had either hijacked a human ship or encoded their own distress beacon to appear human in origin. Then, when either would-be heroes or foolhardy opportunists hoping for an easy score descended on the ship, the trap would be sprung.

  Arak knew that play all too well, because he had used it back in his former life. Before he joined the crew of the Icarus.

  Arak sighed.

  He could think it over as much as he wanted to, but he needed to alert the Captain either way. Just in case someone truly was in trouble. Captain Goldwing wouldn’t be able to let another human ship stay in danger, no matter the danger to himself or his crew. Arak was almost tempted to ignore the beacon, but he had vowed not to be a coward when he agreed to pilot the Icarus.

  After Captain Goldwing saved his life.

  Arak motioned on the display and opened a comm channel to Captain Goldwing’s chambers.

  ‘What is it, Nara-ka?’ Draco answered almost instantly. There wasn’t a trace of tiredness or irritation in his voice, even though the Captain had told Arak that he would be sleeping.

  “I’m sorry to wake you, but there’s a problem, sir. It’s probably best if you come down and see for yourself. We’ve picked up a distress beacon. Apparently human.”

  ‘I’ll be right down.’

  A few minutes later the door to the bridge slid open and Captain Draco Goldwing strode in. Arak heard his heavy combat boots approaching before he saw the Captain. He stood just over six feet tall, with broad shoulders. He kept his golden hair short, and had a neatly trimmed blond beard, which was just a shade darker that the hair on his head. He was dressed in black combat fatigues, a white singlet covered by an unbuttoned black combat jacket. The jacket had a golden eagle emblem across the left breast.

  As a relatively new member of the crew, Arak still felt a sense of awe when Captain Goldwing walked into a room. He always seemed to be calm and prepared, no matter what kind of shitstorm was on the horizon. If Captain Goldwing and the rest of the crew hadn’t come along when they did, Arak would be nothing but a vapor stain on a wall in the ruins of Torusk.

  “Evie, can we do a diagnostic on the beacon’s source code? Check if they’re using a signal encryption. We need to check if it’s genuine,” Draco said.

  ‘Yes, Captain. Ru
nning the diagnostic now,’ said Evie, who appeared from her spawn point in the corner.

  Evie was a play on the term E.V, which stood for electronic visualization, generally used when talking about the visual manifestation of an artificial intelligence that is integrated within a ship’s internal systems. Evie, like all AI systems, was not a true artificial intelligence. The creation of actual functioning artificial intelligence was against Galactic Council law.

  The AI aboard ships were generally just an intelligently programmed facilitator to run the complicated processes required for a starship to function. Evie had extremely limited access to the Icarus’s higher functions. Most functions outside of running the normally required processes could not be initiated without human authorization and activation.

  Any other process that involved higher functions of the ship, such as their external weapons systems, required authorization from the Captain of the ship in a two-layer security system. This ensured that only the Captain, in conjunction with the voice recognition software of Evie, could activate these higher functions.

  Evie’s visual manifestation was of a young woman in her early twenties wearing a military jumpsuit. She was made entirely of translucent, luminescent blue light. She showed absolutely no emotion in her face, which helped stop any potential anthropomorphism.

  “What are you gut feelings, Nara-ka?” the Captain asked Arak.

  “It could be a trap. Out here, you know that it is the likeliest scenario. However, my gut doesn’t know which way to feel. It could be a legitimate call for assistance. I am torn, Captain,” Arak responded.

  “I feel the same. No one would be stupid enough to broadcast a human distress signal out here. Not unless they were desperate. Which means that if it is real, we need to respond. Out here, you know that means we’ll have some competition, and they’re not going to be friendly.”

  ‘Captain, I have finished running the diagnostic on the distress signal. There is no encryption. A human ship is in dire need of assistance. They have activated a code purple alert. It will take us just over one hour to reach the ship at full burn. Initiate response protocol?’ Evie asked.

  “Initiate response protocol. One hour will give us enough to time prepare for emergency deployment.”

  “Code purple…” Arak muttered to himself.

  “Things could get ugly. Evie, wake the crew please.”

  ‘Yes, Captain,’ Evie said and faded to nothing.

  Captain Goldwing walked behind Arak’s chair and looked out at the expanse of the galaxy in front of them. They were between the first and second planets of the Gemon system. There were no habitable planets here, but the first planet, known as Krakaterra by humanity, was a tourist destination even though it was located on the fringes of unfriendly space. The entire surface of the planet was made of shifting plates of rock, undulating, melting and hardening in oceans of molten lava, orbiting a binary star system locked in a delicate balance of gravitational forces.

  In a little over eight hundred New Earth years, the planet itself would be consumed by the twin orbiting stars, which grew closer to each other with every passing rotation. Krakaterra almost liquefied each time it passed through the space between Gemon I and Gemon II but maintained enough integrity to hold its spherical shape as it passed around the cold zone on the outside of the stars. This gave tourists a nine-hour window to observe the planet before they drew too close to the twin stars and risked roasting alive inside their own ship.

  As Captain Goldwing contemplated the sheer strangeness of the star system around him, a dread thought crossed his mind.

  “Evie, which direction is the distress beacon coming from?”

  ‘The beacon is currently orbiting Krakaterra.’

  Captain Goldwing swore to himself.

  “How long until the ship becomes unsalvageable?”

  ‘Approximately six hours.’

  Captain Goldwing swore to himself again.

  “Evie, tell the crew I need them here immediately. We need to get to the ship before it’s too late. Can you detect any other ships in the area?”

  ‘Negative. Just the Icarus and the ship generating the beacon, Captain.’

  “Are you running the stealth protocols?”

  ‘Yes, Captain. If there are stealth ships, they’re more sophisticated than our scanners can detect.’

  “Scan for any further information on the ship in distress. Get as much data as possible. This is no hoax. Not even the Nargerian scam artists would put themselves at such danger in the hope of a profit.”

  “What about our cargo, Captain?” Arak asked.

  “He’ll have to wait.”

  Arak laughed, “It’s not like he has a choice in the matter.”

  Draco smirked.

  “I’ve chased him for so long that I can scarcely believe we actually caught him. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t enjoyed making him squirm.”

  “But not too much, of course Captain.”

  “For the things he’s done and the lives he’s taken, he doesn’t deserve a swift end. But I’m not one for handing out death and judgement. After we deal with this ship, we’ll head back to Alliance space and he’ll answer for his crimes. But enough about Simms. There is something that I’d like to talk to you about before the crew arrive.”

  “Yes?” Arak asked, immediately on edge. He had been working for mercenary ships since he was old enough to pilot and had learnt quickly that something your Captain needed to talk to you about in private was always bad news.

  “Torusk was an absolute disaster. For everyone involved. No exception. We shouldn’t have even been there, but every cloud has a silver lining. I’m very glad that you’re finding a place within our crew, and I personally hope that you make the decision to stay with the Icarus for a while longer. You’re an asset to the team, I don’t want to lose you.”

  For a moment, Arak was dumbstruck. Never in his twenty years of employment with the various merc outfits had he ever been given such a heartfelt compliment; let alone from someone he had known for such a small amount of time. His value had always been defined by his skills in killing and deception, not by his own personal worth.

  “To be honest Captain, I’m not sure what to say. I… am not very good with my words about such things. But you should know that leaving your employ has not crossed my mind. I am not planning on leaving.”

  As he spoke, Arak felt pride, but not the cold pride that came with a clean, undetected kill. It was warm.

  “That’s good to know,” Captain Goldwing said as the doors hissed open behind them and the crew entered the bridge. He took a deep breath and turned to address them.

  “We’re heading into an unknown situation where human lives are at stake. We intercepted a distress beacon from a ship orbiting Krakaterra, and it’s going to roast in six hours unless we do something. Vynce, Ava, Raze, Al, I need you all to be combat ready yesterday. I don’t anticipate that we’ll see any actual combat, but we need to prepare. Just in case. Nook, Reban and Rhken, I need you to prep the deep-space towing rig. We may need to pull this ship out of planetary orbit.”

  ‘Captain, I have finished downloading all available information about the ship. I have uncovered some problematic data,’ said Evie.

  “What is it?”

  ‘Designation: Metropolis Seven. Departed from Caledon, New Earth, 5.17 New Earth solar cycles ago. Population: 100,482 humans upon departure. Current population unknown. Sensors are reporting strange readings. Systems are partially shut down or have been corrupted. Engines on the ship are currently not running.’

  “One hundred thousand people? Are you fucking kidding me? This is a job for the Alliance military, Captain, not us.” Ava said. She wore black combat fatigues and a black tank top. Her arms were crossed over her chest. Her black hair was shaved on one side and cut in a severe angle on the other.

  “I agree, but if we don’t act then one hundred thousand people are going to be burnt alive, roasted between two suns within the next
five hours. You know how long the Alliance will take to respond to something like this, and we don’t have that kind of time. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want that on my conscience,” Captain Goldwing replied with finality.

  “In other words, this matter is not up for discussion,” Raze added. His imposing figure towered above the rest of the crew. With well-muscled dark skin, a shaved head and a thick wiry beard, he didn’t look like the intelligent systems analyst and code cracker that he was. Raze spoke rarely, but when he did, every crew member, Captain Goldwing included, took notice.

  “That’s fine,” Ava replied, “Just make sure you’re cool with me haunting your ass if I end up a little too crispy, okay boss?”

  “I’m sure you’d have much better things to do when you’re dead, Ava. I don’t know about you, but I would rather have one death on my conscience than a hundred, let alone a hundred thousand,” Draco replied with a smile.

  Ava made a half-hearted salute at Captain Goldwing then left the bridge.

  “You want me to go after her, cap?” asked Vynce, a lanky red head that stood next to Raze. Next to the huge black man, he looked like a pale white ghost child.

  Before joining the crew of the Icarus, Vynce was part of the same Alliance Military Spec Ops unit that Captain Goldwing had belonged to. Like his Captain, Vynce was dishonorably discharged from the Alliance Military. Like most spec ops agents who found themselves out of their specialized area, Vynce found some cracks to slip through and began living another life under another name.

  “No, let her go, she’ll be fine. You, Raze and Al get down to the armory. I’ll be there soon.” Captain Goldwing said.

  Raze nodded and turned to walk out of the room. Vynce followed, but Aloysius stayed behind.