Escaping My Shadows

The novel started as a short story that was submitted to a writing contest (didn't win). It is very loosely based upon the Babylon 5 Universe (telepaths, shadows, plethora of different races, etc.). I still continued to think about the story and how it ended without a final resolution (though the story did have an ending, it left a lot of questions about the protagonist). Thanks to the obsession and compulsion I have with writing (it's a blessing and a curse) I decided to continue the story to final resolution. This is it.

A race called the Chitoxan came from an unknown area of space and declared war on the races making up the Earth-Alliance. More technically advanced than the races they encounter, the overwhelming power of the shadow vessels results in most battles ending in complete defeat for the Earth-Alliance. Only by massing fire on an individual shadow vessel or, in extremely desperate situations, committing suicide with a ship's reactor overload, can a shadow vessel be defeated. Earth and Earth-alliance colonies are slowly being conquered and occupied by Chitoxa. The humans on these occupied colonies are enslaved and forced to serve the Chitoxan's every need.

A young man volunteers for the Space Marines during the Chitoxan war. Upon induction, he discovers that he is 'blessed' with unique abilities. However, these abilities cause his life to be changed drastically and terribly. He is taken away and forced into a never-ending nightmare.

After a quick and violent encounter between Earth and Chitoxa, another Earth fleet is beaten and is almost wiped out. The surviving ship gets a lucky shot at an attacking shadow vessel, slicing off one of its appendages. The pain and shock of the loss does something to the human controller of the battle crab....