The Guardian Directive: . . . And the First Battle for Earth - Softcover

Baumgaertner, Gene

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1466994495 ISBN 13: 9781466994492

Verlag: Trafford, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

Primitive humans on Earth have been eking out an existence as hunter-gatherers and farmers for millennia. Some live in large villages and small towns, while others haven't yet discovered the wheel. What could be a worse time for an alien invasion? But by a beneficial turn of fate, an altruistic race of space explorers discovers the coming invasion before it starts. Only twenty-five years earlier, they too had discovered the Earth and had been unobtrusively studying the local inhabitants. Although unprepared to stop an invasion, they move to intervene, hoping to save the innocents on Earth from domination and potential annihilation by a ravenous species of conquerors. The wormlike Rhulle want to colonize the rich planet as a springboard for further conquests, and they plan to cultivate the indigenous humans as a food source. The far-thinking Hasdradan want to protect Earth and allow its primitive humans to evolve into potential trading partners. The Rhulle and the Oligarchy of Hasdrada have been fighting a bitter war of attrition and annihilation for eighty years. Now, the latest battleground turns out to be Earth, in the year 4350 BC.

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The Guardian Directive ... and the First Battle for Earth

Collected from a Series of Lectures Given at the War College on Paradise

By Gene Baumgaertner, Gian Jonmoth Bath IX

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2013 Gene Baumgaertner
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4669-9449-2

Contents

Prologue: The Earlier Visitors.............................................
1
Lecture 1: The Guardians...................................................
5
Lecture 2: Reviewing a Prime Directive.....................................
20
Lecture 3: Enter the Rhulle................................................
31
Excursia 1: Early Xenological Notes........................................
45
Lecture 4: The Rhulle Destroyer............................................
48
Excursia 2: Excerpted and Abbreviated from The Encyclopedia Hasdradania....
65
Lecture 5: The Delaying Action.............................................
72
Excursia 3: Excerpted and Abbreviated from The Hasdradania Militatum.......
85
Lecture 6: The First Battle for Earth—Day One..............................
87
Excursia 4: Those That Bear Protecting.....................................
105
Lecture 7: Day Two—Repairs and Diversions..................................
111
Lecture 8: Day Three—Another Surprise......................................
136
Lecture 9: Day Three—Up's and Down's.......................................
165
Lecture 10: The Last Day—Desperate Situations..............................
182
Lecture 11:Call for Desperate Measures.....................................
215
Lecture 12: Evacuation.....................................................
236
Lecture 13: Inside Grumbolt................................................
253
Lecture 14: Epilogue—A Time to Prepare.....................................
274
Appendix A: Key Characters.................................................
281
Appendix B: Technical and Historical Notes.................................
285
Appendix C: The Oligarchy of Hasdrada......................................
295

CHAPTER 1

The Guardians

Roughly 6,335 years ago (or the Year 6414 CHE—of the CurrentHistrorical Era), the third "historically" important event occurred inthe Terran System. The first, of course, was the Elder Visitation (andSettlement?). The second, from our perspective, was our discovery ofEarth and its civilizations. The third follows, taken from a number ofpersonal accounts available to this lecturer.

The corvette Ixtel Avan lay silently at her post, circling the planetEarth. She lay not too far distant from the newly positioned satellitefortress Grumbolt. Due to its positioning, Grumbolt was invisible to theinhabitants of Earth. On the other hand, the inhabitants of the planetcould, under ideal conditions, actually see Ixtel Avan whisk across thenight-time sky. Of course, even if they noticed the IA, they'd have noconcept of what the rapidly moving light was.

Grumbolt was not in an Earth orbit. It had been towed from Paradise,and placed into a solar orbit only a year earlier. It was now stationedat the LaGrangian L1 point defined by the Sun-Earth system. AlthoughGrumbolt had mobility, and could move about in the Sol System, itwas very slow when compared to both merchantmen and war ships.It had no Faster-Than-Light (FTL) capabilities, and traveled ratherinefficiently. So, unless it needed to move to some other locationto better defend the planet Earth, it sat in relative stability at theSun-Earth L1 LaGrangian point.

[See Appendix B for a discussion of LaGrangian Points, especiallyrelated to the Sun-Earth System]

The captain of the Ixtel Avan was a man named Gian JonmothXiteroceph Bath. He was simply called Jon Bath by those who weren'tcompelled to call him either by his military position, Captain (of theIxtel Avan), or by his rank, Commander, or by his hereditary title, theHonorable Xiteroceph of Bathe.

Jon Bath sat at his command console, leisurely surveying the ninescreens he had displayed before him. Ixtel Avan's bridge was quiet.Six officers and spacers sat at other consoles, each monitoring aplethora of screens, displays, and devices, keeping tabs on all of theactivities and movements of a dynamic stellar system.

Three maroons were also assigned to the IA's bridge. One, MaroonShield Sergeant Yosho Quinridge, stood directly behind Bath'scommand chair. He was Bath's aide, and in charge of Bath's personalguard. In the short hallway between the bridge and the remainder ofthe ship were stationed Maroon Flag Corporal Tartis Korollian andMaroon Corporal Tollo Yertigas. They were there to guard the bridge,and as the remainder of Bath's security detail.

Despite himself, Bath could not stifle a yawn. It was just another routinewatch ... on a boring day ... above a barely inhabited planet ... in abackwater star system.

Jon Bath was a man of his times, of his planet of birth, and of hisbreeding. He was born in year 6375 CHE (Current Historical Era),in Castle Rhising, on the Isle of Bathe. Bathe, of course, lies nearthe equator of the planet Annanabi, in the heart of the HasdradanHome Worlds. Born to the Cephe of Bathe, Jon Bath was raised andeducated as an aristocrat.

[See Appendix B for a clarification of "Oligarch" and "Hasdradan",and Appendix C for a more detailed discussion of the Oligarchy ofHasdrada.]

As a young man, he had excelled through much of his educationand training—a double major of Astro-Navigation and Exo-PlanetaryEngineering at the University of Trothbert, and post-graduate work insub-atomic bonding at Deems. Then he took the mandatory tour in themilitary (something a Xiteroceph could easily have avoided if he choseto), where he did adequately well in ground-trooper training at theWarbanks Outpost. The next three years were spent first commandinga small ground unit in the Arfgot Conflict, and then acting as adjutant toa one-star admiral in the Higby system.

This latter was followed by a nomination to officer candidate schoolin the Higby system's Space Navy Academy. The nomination wasprobably due to his boundless energy, his attention to detail, and hisbetter than average intelligence, as well as his impeccable lineage,his hereditary title of Xiteroceph, and the admiral's good will. At theNaval Academy he finally excelled, especially in his favorite subjects,those involving both the logistics and operations of space navies, andthe fighting tactics of individual ships. These latter skills got both theattention of the Admiralty Staff, and admission to Oligarch Jane WarCollege, located on Higby. Jon Bath graduated from the War Collegewith honors, and showed a particularly brilliant flare for battle fleetmaneuvers in the midst of a hot fight. He won most of the war gameshe participated in, ranging from ship against ship, all the way throughtask force versus task force. He was thereafter watched as potentialadmiral material, although his career was anything but...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Trafford
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1466994495
• ISBN 13: 9781466994492
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 306
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: KreGa Onlinehandel GmbH; 4950000000000; info@krega-onlinehandel.de; ; Birkenweg 31; Brakel; 33034; Deutschland