The Milky Way Saga: Cities to Embers (Book 1 of 3)

SECTION ONE-Chapter 01: Isaac Free

Who Am I? 

My name is Isaac Free. I was born on Earth on January 15th, 2129. I'm from a town in Northern Ireland, called Augher. My father was American, born in California, and my mother was born in Augher, like me. At the age of only 6, my father and mother were killed in a freak accident While traveling to the Lunar colony, Ember II. Their ship was destroyed by an engine faliure. I was fortunate enough to be on a different ship than them.

After we landed at Ember II, I would've been thrown into an orphanage if it hadn't been for Mr. Bret Waard III and Mrs. Janet Waard. They took me in. They had a son, Bret who was my age, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Windy, who were 14 and 18 respectively. I was treated as if they had been my family all along, but they still made sure that I was aware of where I'd come from. My fathers was an Astrophysicist, and my mother was a Chief of Medicine at the hospital that was in the town we lived in. Two very respected people, I was told, not just by my new parents, but everyone who knew them. I was from a family of very respected individuals who's love for one another was unbound. I wish I could've known them.

I graduated from high school on May 20th, 2147. I joined the Navy three days later. I didn't go in alone, however. I joined on the same day as my brother, Bret, and the girl who I've had a crush on ever since arriving at Ember II. Her name was Bailey, and although I was sure I would never truly get to talk to her, she would later become my girlfriend. Training was a long and difficult process. I learned very fast that the military as no place for weak links. I had to convince Bret to stay in time after time, but he eventually graduated from the Ford Academy on Earth.

War was declared on Insurrectionists on September 7th, 2147. The Insurrectionists were humans who had another idea as to how the human race should go about the rest of their existence. We had Superior numbers, but it always seems like they were and are a step ahead of us. I continued my campaign against them, but was put of of service for 6 months after an accident on Mars where I was shot several times in the back by friendlies after an undercover mission went wrong. I came back with a prosthetic backbone, one that grants me super fast running speed. Just a bonus, I guess.

On December 18th, 2151 I retired from the Navy at the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Bailey was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander a week later. I joined a branch of the special forces a month after I retired; The branch was known as The Founders. It was our responsibility to go down to new found planets and clear out any threat, infestation, disease, or anything else that we could do to help establish human life on the surface. I wish now that I had just, I don't know, stayed in the Navy, I guess? Maybe if I had, I wouldn't have to deal with the way things are now, but I'm getting ahead of myself...

I proposed to Bailey some time after that and she said yes. We had a big wedding on February 5th, 2154. Commanding General Joseph Douglas Ford was there to wish was luck in our lives. All of our friends and family were there, over 300 people showed up. Bret was my best man. I really wanted my parents to have been there to see it, but I feel like they did, where they are. Then, the world as we know it, was obliterated, first as a whisper, then as a scream.

"Judgement Day",as some like to call it, was on August 29th, 2157. Our head scientists and astronomers made contact with an alien race as we were reaching he edge of our galaxy, in the Frost System. The message was simple and incredible, "Placere abire ab hoc loco." In perfect Latin. It translates to "Please go away from this place". At first, our people were astonished. countless centuries, and we've finally made contact with other beings besides us. So, our top minds thought of replying with a short, sweet, to the point type of question. "Quid hic vult?" meaning, "Why do you not want us here?" They didn't like that.

It isn't really like we had put any human souls on the planets, but that wasn't why we got upset. We got upset over the principle. The E.T.s told us that we were not welcome, and the moment we translated it, they glassed a planet in a matter of hours. Not days, not weeks. Hours. Frost 034521 was gone, without a moments notice. Needless to say, we didn't know what to do. Their ships came out of nowhere, out of the pure black of space. We feel back, all but five of us. The five MWR Capitol ships that stayed behind were Hope, Saviour, Promise, Intent, and Creation. they stayed there until we could work something out with the creatures.

We came to learn over the next few hours that they called themselves Incolma, or Denizens. That they had an entire Empire and that they were bigger than we could've possibly imagined. All of this information was in the digital signature that they put on their messages to us, like they wanted us to know it, to be afraid of it. General Ford wasn't about to let some aliens take over the human race, though. He proposed a treaty. to which the Denizens replied with, "Prius in foedere bellum, belli tibi erit si vis." meaning, "For a treaty there must first be war, and if you want war you shall have it." They then destroyed Hope, Saviour, Intent, and Creation. Leaving Promise as a way of toying with us. I was abored Promise. How ironic that Hope was destroyed on the same day that it was lost.

For not only did I lose Hope... 

But I lost Bailey, and my unborn child as well...