Conquest (A Fossil Story): Chapter 1

The Drop

SPOILER ALERT: This story does contain spoilers for the ending of Ruins. If you haven’t read that yet, the link is at the bottom of the chapter. This story can be read on its own, but it’s best experienced after reading the first two books in the Fossil Saga.

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Photo by Олег Мороз on Unsplash

John wiped his rifle down with the grease-stained rag. He shoved the weapon into the side of his pod next to his seat, where he would have easy access after the drop. He took a deep breath. Jumping straight into enemy territory. He’d done it many times before. He and his squad took down pirate organizations before they knew he was there. They’d stopped rebellions and landed on colonist worlds that needed to be tamed. But he’d never done anything like this.

Sweat dripped from his brow. John quickly wiped it away. He couldn’t let the others see. He couldn’t let them know how nervous their leader truly was. He took a deep breath as his stomach rolled over. He managed to keep his nausea out of his throat, but he wasn’t sure how long that would last.

George loaded a grenade launcher into his pod on one side and an extra pack of ammo on the other. He groaned, stretching his thick, muscular neck. “This’ll be fun, eh? Dropping straight onto their planet. It’s good. I was getting bored with the normal jobs.”

Seth groaned. His cold voice always sent a shiver down John’s spine. “None of our jobs are ‘good,’ George. This is war, remember?”

“Of course I remember,” said George. He pointed to the long scar running across his face. “It’s all I’ve ever known. We might as well have some fun with it while we’re here.”

Seth rolled his eyes and scoffed, shoving his long sniper rifle into a pod.

Kai pressed some buttons on his datapad. Probably adding a new program to his list of thousands. “There’s no reason to be excited or discouraged. This is our job, and we will do what we must.”

John stepped away from his pod, his hands clasped behind his back. “Kai is right. Gentlemen, you all know what to do. We’ve done dozens of reconnaissance missions before. This one is no different. We’ll go down there before they’ve detected us, learn what we can, and get out. That’s all there is to it.”

George barked a laugh. “Ha! I ain’t leaving until something goes boom.”

Seth hissed. “You mean like their home planet?”

“That’s just a myth,” said George. “No one can blow up a whole planet. Not even the Federation.”

“If you’re so sure,” said Seth, “why don’t you ask them while we’re down there?”

John gritted his teeth. “That’s enough out of both of you. We’re a team, so stick together and leave personal convictions out of it. We have an enemy to fight. Not each other.”

The lights switched from white to red. An alarm blared, and a voice cracked to life over the ship’s intercom. “Dropping in two minutes. Kronos Squad, to your pods.”

George grinned and hopped over to his pod, squeezing his large form inside. Kai turned, his eyes still fixed on his datapad as he stepped into his pod and lowered the hatch.

Seth sighed, eyes fixed on the floor. “I’ve never questioned our orders, John. I’ve never stepped away from a job. I’ve killed for the Federation. I’ve watched as the life was snuffed out from a person’s eyes a mile away. I’ve done things I sometimes wish I had not, but I knew it was for the good of the Federation and its people. But this? Something feels off. I don’t like it.”

John pursed his lips and sighed. “I trust your instincts, but we still have a job to do, and we won’t back down from it.”

“I understand, but this is different. This isn’t some terrorist group. This is a whole new race of intelligent beings. They have every right to be angry after what we did to their home.”

“Maybe,” said John. “But we still deserve to survive. This galaxy is big enough for both of us. If they can’t see that, then we’ll have to fight.”

Seth narrowed his eyes. “I thought you’d say that.”

He entered his pod, lowering the hatch and ensuring his eyes didn’t meet John’s gaze.

John sighed. If Seth thought that way throughout the mission and let himself be distracted, the whole operation was in trouble. John couldn’t have any of his teammates questioning orders. This was for the good of the Federation. This scum was trying to kill all of humanity. Fleet Admiral Harper knew that and took action. Now, it was another Fleet Admiral’s turn. This was only the first in a long line of colonies to fall. If the aliens thought they could wipe out humans, they had another thing coming.

But John couldn’t help but think what things would have been like if the circumstances were different. Would the two races still be at war? Would they still try to kill each other? What if they tried to talk out their differences instead? But no. The aliens struck first. They attacked civilian ships. That was the beginning of their conquest to wipe out humanity, and the Federation wouldn’t stand for that. John wouldn’t stand for that. Still, were they really as savage as the Federation leaders made them out to be? Or had they attacked human vessels out of some sense of self-preservation?

John stepped into his pod, squeezing himself inside the small space. He grabbed the hatch and pulled it closed as he took a deep breath. Whatever the situation was with the aliens, it didn’t matter. The Federation gave John and his squad a job, and it was their duty and obligation to complete it. No matter the cost. This was about serving humanity. This was about keeping danger at bay. This was about saving the lives of innocent civilians. If the Federation didn’t push the Esslarians back now, they would build a resistance and journey across the stars to hunt down the human colonies.

Us or them, John reminded himself. Us or them.

John strapped on his helmet in time to hear a voice come through his personal communicator. “Kronos Squad, dropping in T-minus thirty seconds.”

Sweat trickled down his brow again. His heart nearly jumped out of his chest. John gripped his harness tightly. He tried to slow his breathing, inhaling through his nose and exhaling through his mouth. But nothing helped. He didn’t know what to expect. He had a map of the immediate area around the calculated landing sight, but nothing more. This was a world untouched by humans. No one had seen its surface before.

Kronos Squad would be the first.

The screen above John glowed with a green light, displaying the countdown sequence. The officer spoke to the squad one final time. “Dropping in ten. Good luck, Kronos Squad; and godspeed.”

John shifted and stretched his neck. He hated drops. This one more than any of the others. He wrinkled his brow and set his jaw. He didn’t have to kill anything. Not this time. Just recon. Gather intel and then call in a shuttle. Nothing more. Everything would be okay.

Three.

Two.

One.

John’s pod lurched. The drop bay vanished, replaced instead by the wall of a metal shaft. The pod didn’t just drop. It shot itself out of the chamber like an oversized bullet, rocketing John into low orbit.

The shaft disappeared. John peered out the glass panel at the starfield beyond. He didn’t get to see views like that very often. He enjoyed his brief glimpses at a peaceful universe. He used to see swirling nebulae, colorful moons, and bright, blinding suns. But this view wasn’t as exciting as some of the others that came before it. Nothing but white stars, the black void, and the swirling clouds of the planet below him.

A storm gathered to the West. The clouds were almost black, there. John imagined the rain pouring onto the world’s surface. He imagined the Esslarians—whatever they looked like—sheltering themselves. Families getting together for games or to tell stories. Maybe even wrapping themselves in blankets and huddling together to keep warm.

John shook the thought away. No. They weren’t human. They didn’t act human. They were different. They were hostile, and they needed to be dealt with. John would light the way for the soldiers. He’d show them where to go and what to hit first. The Esslarians on this world were doomed. The Federation would ensure that.

The atmosphere around John’s pod grew thicker. Flames burst around him as the heat-resistant metal created friction with the air molecules. The flames kept John from having a clear view outside the glass panel. But he didn’t need to see. John turned his head as best he could and shifted his eyes over to the assault rifle on his left. He hadn’t used her in a while. Scratches had been etched into the weapon’s body, each one its own story. Each story, one John would sooner forget. But he couldn’t. He had to remember for the sake of those who had been lost.

The flames died away. John found himself below cloud level. The world was dark and gray. No color here. The surface was all rock and hills. No mountains in sight, and no greenery of any kind. The only vegetation John could see was dead, barren trees. John squinted. What happened here?

The surface rapidly approached. John held his breath. Any second now. Steady. Steady…

John’s pod slammed into the rocky surface. The secure restraints and tight padding in the pod prevented most of the shock from reaching his body and kept his head from whiplashing too violently, but that didn’t mean it felt good. John groaned. The lights in his pod went green. The harness released. John pressed a red button on his right. With a loud bang, the pod’s hatch shot away. John snatched his rifle and jumped out of his pod, glancing around.

The area was foggy. Visibility was severely limited. John didn’t like the conditions, but he didn’t have to. He was stuck with what he had, and he needed to work with it. But first, he needed to group up with the rest of his squad.

John checked the monitor on his wrist and scowled. That couldn’t be right. John reached the landing site. He was sure of it. Everything appeared correct. So why did the monitor show his pod hundreds of yards off course?

John looked up from his monitor and peered through the fog. He didn’t see any pods around. He cursed. The monitor must have been correct. One small miscalculation, and his entire trajectory was off. Maybe it wasn’t a miscalculation. It was possible his angle of descent was bad. Any number of things could have been the cause of that. Whatever the case, John was alone. He needed to group with his squad if anything was going to be done here.

John pulled the rest of his equipment out of his pod, including his pack filled with rations, water, and extra ammo. He strapped a few grenades to his belt and holstered his sidearm. His equipment loaded and his destination located, John plunged into the fog of the alien world, wondering what he would find along the way.

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The mission begins. Kronos Squad lands on a mysterious alien world. What will they find? Where are the Esslarians? What secrets are they keeping? Get ready, because this is going to be a bumpy ride.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this bonus novel. I’m super excited for you to see the rest of this adventure. I had a blast writing it, and I know you’re going to love it, too. If you haven’t already, make sure you’re subscribed so you never miss a chapter. I’ll be publishing them every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so keep an eye out for the newest chapters on those dates.

If you want to see this story as an ebook or paperback, I would love your help to get a great cover for it! We only need to raise $50 for an ebook version. Any help is appreciated!

This story is a spinoff of the grander Fossil trilogy. If you want a free copy of Extinction—the final installment in the series—next month, consider becoming a paid subscriber. There are plenty more books on the way, so you’ll never go without a thrilling story to read. Otherwise, if you want to download each book on their own, you can do that here.

Thank you so much for reading. I’m excited for you to follow along with this story and experience the adventures of Kronos Squad. I had a lot of fun putting this team together, and I hope you get to know them as well as I have. I’ll see you in the next chapter!