The Shadow of Earth (Expansion: The History of the Galaxy, Book #2): A Space Saga by Andrei Livadny

Author:Andrei Livadny [Livadny, Andrei]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Magic Dome Books
Published: 2018-03-21T22:00:00+00:00

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THE SWARM OF TINY sparks that had briefly appeared in the night sky and was accidentally spotted by Sergey Voronin was a group of jammers released from the Shadow of Earth cruiser.

Nadyrov didn’t want to risk it.

The phantom generators, set up in orbit and at the landing location on the planet’s surface, ensured the covert landing of the combat troops.

Five assault carriers with servomachines on board passed like ghosts by the tracking satellites, and, mercilessly expending energy from the onboard accumulators, began their descent through the atmosphere, silently using their anti-gravitational thrusts to move towards their intended target.

Combat testing of the new equipment had begun.

Fifty meters remained to the surface when the anti-grav failed on one of the assault carriers. The main engines switched on immediately but their flame was hidden by the masking field.

The forest floor was flung up in a shower of steam when the landing supports sank into the soil.

Everything was taking place in a forest glade - the surrounding tree branches immediately caught aflame but the forest fire was put out by streams of a whitish substance.

The forest fell silent, enclosing the scene in a wall of twilight.

A ramp dropped down with a low rumble, then came the rustle of servomotors and the first combat cyber mechanism stepped onto Cassia’s surface.

The charred earth was still smoking but Lieutenant Seichi, who was piloting the Phalanger, felt no effect from the environment as the machine’s systems maintaining a complete seal.

“Move it!” He uttered into the comms. Seichi’s Phalanger left the ramp and moved to the side, giving way to the Hoplite of Andrew Groves.

There was a small pause and the lieutenant, who was carefully inspecting their surroundings, asked rudely, “Frayg be damned, Delacroix, what’s the problem?”

“The servoengine test produced an error. I’ve switched to the reserve engines and it’s all fine now,” as if confirming her words, the Phalanger’s heavy tread made the ramp vibrate.

Glancing at the comms screen, where Lieutenant Seichi could see the faces of his subordinates, and their biometrics slightly below, he asked brusquely, “Groves, what are you daydreaming about? Admiring the flowers, are you? Use the scanners, I want a report in 30 seconds!”

The lieutenant obviously didn’t favor the young pilot.

Judging by their brief responses in general, the group of five wasn’t working particularly cohesively. They were called to war from different corners of the Solar System and sorted based on features, as if they were things. A distinctive feature of each one of them was the ability to manually control complicated robotic complexes. Apart from that, they barely knew each other.

Andrew Groves really had been distracted by the forest.

After the lieutenant’s shout, the Hoplite’s cockpit swayed slightly; the gyroscopes located under the pilot’s chair started working, and the forty-ton servomachine turned towards the first navigation point, performing active reconnaissance as it went.

Groves felt genuinely discomfited. He had found himself on a living planet for the first time in his life. Every person, even an invader, has their own life and their own fate.

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