1.05

Omega's Edge — Volume 1: Shattered Parallax — Chapter 5

Hollace awoke hours before dawn.

She had spent the previous two days researching Maren Whitlock, a Progress Party challenger to the incumbent Halden Thorpe, reading as many articles as she could find, digging into as much of Whitlock’s political history as time allowed. And since Hollace wasn’t working until Monday, she had all the time in the world. She’d immersed herself so deeply into the life and work of Whitlock that she forgot to eat the previous day. She even dreamed of Whitlock. 

After a traditionally quick shower, Hollace sat on the cool countertop beside the sink and dove back into her project, not even stopping to put on clothes. Across the room situated on her bedside counter, Martin’s TV played the news. It provided a bigger picture than her old model. She kept the volume just loud enough to be heard over the industrial trucks loading and unloading cargo twenty stories below. 

“Alright, Maren…Let’s get to know each other even better.” 

1.09

Omega's Edge — Volume 1: Shattered Parallax — Chapter 9

“Signal jamming engaged,” Banks called from the comms station.

Andar turned to her and said, “Connect to fleetwide comms.”

Within moments, the Chrysalis was linked to every other Starlancer in the 17th fleet, on a comms line the Federation couldn’t access.

From the Captain’s seat, Vae hoped there were no codebreakers on board in the Federation fleet before her.

1.07

Omega's Edge — Volume 1: Shattered Parallax — Chapter 7

The climate of the small, parched world of Ombra Prime, nestled on the edge of The Verge deep within the Austral Corridor, ranged between inhospitable desert and semi-arid steppe.

Long thought by many to be scarcely worth the effort of settling, it had been one of the last planets in the galaxy to take on a permanent population. This barren territory, largely devoid of mineral and energy resources, was further cursed by a meager allowance of drinkable water, thus rendering it incapable of supporting a populace beyond the most meagre and scattered of habitations. 

But the air was breathable, there was potable water, and – most importantly – no good reason for the Federation to claim it as their own. After the revolution on Kaal and the rise of the PDR, they, too, saw more value in strengthening their own positions rather than expanding their slight resources to swipe up a mostly-barren, far-flung rock. 

Contradictorily, what kept most away from Ombra Prime in the first place had become the reason for its influx of immigration.

1.03

Omega's Edge — Volume 1: Shattered Parallax — Chapter 3

Burning orange flashes of astral firelight saturated the bridge of the Chrysalis between stygian blinks.

Vae gripped the central command console with fingers that now ached. Vibration shot through her arms and down her spine. The whole ship jostled on its unsteady trajectory straight through the galactic core.

If this was to be her last moment, Vae swallowed hard and accepted her fate.

1.02

Omega's Edge — Volume 1: Shattered Parallax — Chapter 2

The resupply of the Dreadnaught at Erania took so little time that Rane did not even have the chance to go planetside on his own homeworld.

Not that he wanted to. The first priority in Rane’s mind was Thalassar and Vice Admiral Roland Scothern. The plan required a delicate balance and he couldn’t let Scothern blunder into a moment of accidental competence and ruin the whole operation. 

The details had been kept to a select few higher in the chain of command – outside of the Security Council, Fleet Admiral Hammersley of the Federation Space Armada, and the President and Vice President, only Rane knew how the Thalassar operation was meant to play out.

He liked it that way. 

1.11

Omega's Edge — Volume 1: Shattered Parallax — Chapter 11

The name on the badge read HOLLACE BROOKS KIRBY. She was identified as ‘Political Reporter’ for the Usona Times. Officially, legally, that was all there was to her.

Security eyed the face on the badge and the face in front of them. Both had the same youthful face and green eyes, unkempt brown mullet hair, and the same black stud earrings that Hollace never took off. And a huge, dorky grin of a smile.

Hollace tried her best to smile normally and pretend she wasn’t nervous as hell, walking into the Usona Convention Center where she would soon come face to face with Maren Whitlock.

1.10

Omega's Edge — Volume 1: Shattered Parallax — Chapter 10

By the time the Ombra Prime Sunkeepers disappeared into subspace, the Federation’s 11th fleet had done the same, leaving the battlespace around Thalassar to the PDR. Only the scattered remains of Starlancers and Wraith Reiters gave any indication of the conflict.

Vae remained motionless, hands frozen over her gaping mouth, eyes unblinking, watching the black void where Ombra Prime ships had just been seconds earlier. 

She had never before seen a Sunkeeper in person.

Few ever did outside the Ombra star zone. Fewer still ever forgot the moment they did see one. The sleek lines, sharp curves, built as tall as they were wide. Like an exotic flower held in an insect’s mandible – four curving pincers aimed forward. Strength and beauty as one. The bright white trimmed in glimmering gold looked as Vae had imagined a star in its main sequence up close.