Arrival a space opera ad.., p.1
Arrival: A Space Opera Adventure, page 1
ARRIVAL
STARSHIP HOPE SERIES BOOK FIVE
T.S. VALMOND
CONTENTS
Also by T.S. Valmond
The Manifest
The Story So far…
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Captain Steven J. Pinet
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Captain Steven J. Pinet
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Captain Steven J. Pinet
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
WADE
Chapter 73
DANA
Captain Steven J. Pinet
Epilogue
Want More?
Acknowledgments
About the Author
The Starship Hope: Arrival
T.S. Valmond
Copyright © 2023 by T.S. Valmond. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental. Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.
PRINT ISBN: 9 7 8 1 9 9 0 6 8 4 0 7 4
EBOOK ISBN: 9 7 8 1 9 9 0 6 8 4 0 6 7
Cover Design by: Goerz Designs
ALSO BY T.S. VALMOND
Starship Hope Series:
Ensign (Prequel)
Exodus
Marauders
Viral
Nexus
Arrival
Verity Chronicles Series
Exile
Divided
On the Run
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Meet Dana Pinet before she was captain of a starship.
The making of a legend is never easy
for the readers
It’s been a wild ride, thanks for taking it with me.
THE MANIFEST
The Crew
Captain Dana Pinet
Commander Wade Chance - first officer; ex-boyfriend to Dana and ex-fiancé to Maggie Brooker
Lieutenant Commander Adrian Valente - Security Officer
Lieutenant Daisy Summerfield - Security
Lieutenant Nancy Westlake - Pilot
Commander Eric Rogan - Chief Engineer (adoptive father to Eartha)
Commander Esme Rogan - Chief Engineer (pregnant and adoptive mother to Eartha)
Ensign Cliff Harden - Communications officer and language specialist
ARI Three - (Artificial Robotic Intelligence) the android also known as Ari
Dr. Randall Jabar - Medical doctor and surgeon (twin)
Rido Jabar - Healer and therapist (twin) serving as the third member of the Justice Committee
The Passengers
Eartha MacLaren Singh - (stowaway adopted by the Rogans with mysterious origins)
Maggie Brooker - Reporter and ex-fiancé to Commander Chance
Luke Geyer - former CAH member; older brother to James Geyer and former friend of Eartha
Franklin Jennison - Oldest passenger on board and historian
Peter Barnes - former SO and escaped prisoner
Chancellor Jeremiah Evans - Zelenian chancellor and member of the Justice Committee
President Muñoz - Zelenian president and member of the Justice Committee
The Fashin Teku & Aliens
Ashwin Zeppel - former Captain of the Des Freighter (blond-haired)
Catot = Ashwin’s son and future leader of their people.
Tovar Vaziri- Second in command of the Des Freighter (red-haired)
Oli Serei - Security Officer (black-haired)
Rohath Karzenali - red-skinned with black markings from Forlo serving as guide and tradesman from
Pickles - small four-legged fur ball origins: unknown
Zehra - from the Bolaji Empire (a deaf mermaid empath)
THE STORY SO FAR…
The Starship Hope is docked at the Nexus space station for repairs. Eric and Esme have used their engineering skills to help the dockmaster in order to procure the parts needed for their ship.
Dana and Ari are abandoned by their Intergalactic Consortium soldiers known as Agents to a space station emergency. While they are in search of clues to the whereabouts of other humans from Zelenia, they discover Wade and Maggie are a part of a popular vid being viewed on the space station. The Virtual Fantasy Adventure series places unsuspecting contestants in what feels like a real-life event, and they remain stranded until death.
Wade is forced to confront his unresolved feelings for Maggie when they crash-land on an unknown planet with just enough resources to survive. Despite their bitter separation, they’ll have to learn to trust each other again if they want to make it out alive.
Eartha has gotten separated from the ship and her family because the docks are under attack by some kind of giant beetle. Eartha is saved by a man with redskin before she meets a mysterious young girl about her own age. The girl seems to have the same unique abilities as her and they form an instant connection.
When Dana meets up with a guide with valuable information about her people, it will come at a price higher than she can afford. Eartha and her new friend run into Dana at a cafe. Dana suspects Eartha’s new friend of ulterior motives, but before she’s able to come up with her next move, the entire space station goes into lock down.
The space station is under attack by giant space beetles, and they’ve made their way from the docks to the rest of the Nexus, putting everyone in danger. Their ability to cut through durometal makes them extremely dangerous and the ships are forced to abandon the space station in order to avoid destruction.
Believing their only way off the space station may be in the docks, Dana and the others venture through the space station trying not to get themselves killed with the help of the shop owner who seems to be hiding something.
Wade and Maggie have managed to survive one trial after another, but as the years pass, their feelings for each other grow and they find themselves picking up where they left off. Though Wade continues to hold out hope that he’ll one day see Dana again, he is already sharing a life with Maggie in a way he never thought he would again.
After a harrowing race through the space station, they discover that the space beetles were let loose on purpose. Lalema and the other cafe owners were in search of more food stock that only the beetles can provide. Rather than pay the growing prices, they decide to stage the release to line their profits. However, when the beetles cycle turns from random menace to mating and then birth, they’ll have their hands full with the baby beetles that are hatched. The entire space station is in chaos while Dana, Ari, and the two girls do what they can to save them. With the help of two unlikely sources, they manage to get the beetles under control and survive the day.
Wade and Maggie have children and grow old inside the virtual reality game and it’s only when the experience ends do they discover none of it was real.
Dana discovers that the release of the beetles was a cover up to a larger nefarious plot of destroying the space station.
Once the beetles are subdued with the help of Eartha, she returns to her ship. Maggie stays on the space station to pursue her career while Wade returns to the ship. He’s arrested for being a member of the CAH.
Epilogue is Dana.
PROLOGUE
4327.8.15
People ran in every direction like cockroaches on fire. Asteroid fragments fell from the sky every day, taking with it their world one piece at a time. They dodged a guard by ducking behind a storage container.
&nbs
Robby was named for his father. Their mother had named both of her sons for their fathers, just to be sure they could track them down should they choose to find them. Unlike himself, the only physical trait his little brother Robby shared with his father were the gray eyes.
The older boy gave his brother a stern look, willing him forward. “We’ll make it. Now shut up and run.”
The two of them bolted through the panicked throng, racing for the hangar. They dodged weapons fire from the guards defending the last ship leaving the planet. With one day left and only one functioning ship on the ground, things were beyond catastrophic.
The countdown to the planet’s inevitable destruction played on every visible display. They’d named their destroyer Harvey, like something out of a Blue Earth movie. Harvey was coming, whether they liked it or not, and it would crush whatever was left of Zelenia.
Government and military personnel had reserved the Intent for themselves on a base on the outskirts of the Western continent. They believed hiding the truth from everyone somehow gave them a free ticket off the planet. The Coalition had other plans, and so did he. As soon as he heard of their plans to take the last ship, he knew it would be Robby and his last chance to survive.
The Starship Hope had left the rest of the world to burn, carrying with it the future of their planet. Days later, reporters discovered a second and third ship preparing to launch. The Aspire left the planet a week ago and had immediately lost contact. The third, they named the Reliant never made it off the ground because of some technical problem. That left the Intent, the fourth and final lifeboat.
As the most sought-after target, they’d focused their attention on the Intent. The collapse of all worldwide systems of government and law enforcement made it impossible for security to be everywhere at once, but dragging his brother from behind one storage container to the next was taking its toll. The Coalition’s leak of the location of the last remaining ship gave people like him, who paid attention, a fighting chance.
But that meant getting past the desperate crowd, the guards, the security protocols, and getting on the ship itself without detection. Reaching the ship dressed in maintenance clothing had been their best option. So far, the guards had waved them forward toward the ship, but in the chaos, there was the risk that they could still take on stray fire.
The guards had their backs to the only other way onto the ship. Studying the specs of every ship and reviewing their designs would save them.
Robby remained glued to his older brother’s back as they ran until they reached the last container before their final mad dash to the ship’s waste system. It would be clean, but only until they took off. Once they launched, the ship would purge the system and anyone caught inside would suffocate and die in the waste.
After two attempts, the hatch released, and he climbed halfway in before he turned back to wave his younger brother forward.
Robby shook his head, then scanned the moving crowd again.
“Come on.” He mouthed the words and gestured to his brother with one hand.
Robby hesitated a beat, then rose and ran forward. He was still moving forward when the shot hit him in the back. His body fell in slow motion, but his eyes stared straight ahead toward his older brother.
His older brother’s scream died in the air. It took him several moments to stop shaking from rage. He still hadn’t gotten onboard the ship.
“You there!” a guard shouted. The voice came from behind him. It took him less than a second to determine this was the one who’d shot his brother.
“You shot him…” The words trickled out of his mouth like the blood on his brother’s lips.
“This crowd is out of control. He got in the way.”
It hadn’t been because they’d been discovered, it was because he’d gotten between the guard and someone else.
“Where are you supposed to be?” the guard demanded.
“We were supposed to be working on the waste outtake system.”
“Well, get to it. You don’t want to get caught up in this mess. Besides, I’m pretty sure this ship is taking off early. We can’t cover you any longer.”
He took one last look at his little brother, then started to climb.
The waste shaft wasn’t clear, as he’d been expecting. It was already in use. He slid around in the muck, hoisting himself up in places using the tips of his fingers and the toes of his boots. After several tries, he willed himself forward. Every hatch he passed led to rooms where he overheard crew talking or maintenance checks being performed.
Once they initiated the launch, things only got worse. The smell of off-gas made him choke as he crawled to the next hatch.
Locked.
Gagging on the smell, he scrambled to the next opening. He didn’t care anymore if he crawled out of the system on the floor of the bridge. He had to get out or else he’d die.
Fortunately, the hatch gave under his hands, and he crawled out coughing and gasping for air. He rolled onto his back, sucking in fresh air, and for the first time noticed where he’d ended up. He lay face-up on the floor of an empty storage hanger, staring at the exposed beams on the ceiling and the large crates all around him.
From his position on the floor, he felt the shift of the craft as it lifted off the ground. Alone with his grief at last, his thoughts went to Robby. His brother should have been panting on the floor beside him. He’d lost so much already, too much. This was supposed to be their last chance to set things right.
He’d lost track of how long he laid there. The minutes became hours, and in his exhaustion, he’d grown too weak to care. Instead, he dreamed of his younger days with his mother and brother back home. He could almost feel the sun beating down on his bare back.
He turned toward it and its rays blinded him. Then the bright sunlight turned artificial, and he lifted his hand to block the flashlight beam shining in his face.
The young man holding a blaster and the light on him wasn’t wearing a uniform. He couldn’t be much older than his younger brother. The realization of it set his teeth on edge. This young man stood with a confidence his brother hadn’t gotten to live long enough to attain.
“Who are you?” the young man demanded.
Just because he had the confidence didn’t mean he’d earned it, though.
“You’re not crew,” he replied, his voice scratchy from mourning his brother.
The man’s blaster lowered to his side, and he commanded others to do the same.
“No, neither are you.” He didn’t wait for confirmation as he continued, “This ship belongs to the Coalition now. You can choose to join us, or get thrown out the airlock with the other resisters.”
“You’re with the CAH?”
“You haven’t answered my question. Who are you?”
