Book 1 Episode 1: The Enchiridion

​

PROLOGUE

The Rabbit and the Wolves

 

The Eagle Nebula. Located seven-thousand lightyears from Earth. Within its vast, vivid clouds of stellar gases and dust, the Pillars of Creation usher in newborn stars. Surrounded by primeval celestial bodies shimmering in the backdrop of the universe as neighboring solar systems orbit around themselves in their endless ballet. From a distant vantagepoint, the chaos of the universe is shrouded in an illusion of tranquility through the deafening silence.

But in a fraction of a second, that veil of tranquility was shattered as an onslaught of cannons, explosions, and screeching starships cut through the quiet delusion. From the now-theater of war, a single cruiser attempts to evade destruction from three pursuing vessels. Wounded and unable to return fire, the lone ship’s sole course of action is to remain in one piece.

The floundering ship approached a massive spatial anomaly. Dust clouds churned with violence and dark energy as lightning ripped through the raging gale. In a dire attempt to shake off its attackers, the cruiser plunged headfirst into the squall’s maw, followed by its assailants.

Dodging projectiles, dropping chaff flares, and squeezing through colliding space rocks, the ship refused to succumb to its fate. As the skirmish entered a clearing in the storm, the cruiser was left vulnerable away from the cover of asteroids. The attackers locked on the vessel and fired, critically striking their prey, and pulled out of the storm.

The ship sputtered as onboard systems failed one after the other. Not before a small pod jettisoned from the mangled cruiser and out of the space storm. The ship, unwilling to go quietly into the night, ignited its engines into full power. In a final battle cry, the cruiser lurched forward before the engines blew, and all systems shut down.

The perished cruiser plummeted through the maelstrom before being caught by an unknown pull of gravity. The gale revealed a static image of an enormous blue world, streaked with wisps of white clouds and green land hidden behind a cloak that could not have been seen without the storm’s interference. The vessel burst into flames as it pierced the atmosphere and tumbled into the terrestrial world.

From the surface of the planet, the destruction of the ship appeared as nothing more than a bright shooting star. Under tremendous pressure, the vessel was ripped into five fragments that scattered across the planet. The remains that did not burn up in reentry were trailed by fire and pluming smoke as they shrieked through the air.  With a thunderous crash, the debris collided into terra firma.