“Hez!” I jerk my starfighter up, narrowly avoiding a spray of voidblasts. “New shields. Quick!”
“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you.” Hezekiah’s voice crackles through my comlink. “My shields are down!” I dive toward the planet, shoving power into my engines. Newhaven’s emerald surface swallows up my cockpit. “You’re the red dot, right?” “Yes!” Three Neg fighters detach from the enemy’s main formation and swarm after me. I fly in a zigzag pattern to dodge their voidblasts. A translucent purple shield-sphere rises from Newhaven’s atmosphere and engulfs my ship. I grin, pivot, and open fire on the Negs. “Thanks, brother.” I zoom back to the main battle, where Millie and Dax weave through space, each one holding off a dozen Negs. “Now, turn up the volume on your control panel, will’ya?” “Do you know what the community would think if they heard photon blasts coming from a barn?” Hez whispers. “What I’m doing could get me shunned!” Never mind that the entire Amish conclave on Newhaven would’ve been annihilated by meteor strikes long ago if Hez hadn’t secretly apprenticed with old shieldmaster. Once Father and the other elders knew Hez dabbled in forbidden technology, he’d be cast out—all in an attempt to save his soul, of course. “Another Neg flight just dropped from the elsespace,” Dax grunts through my comlink. “My shields are cracking. We can’t keep this up.” “There’s an ally planetside with a shield generator,” I say. “He’ll get you a new one. We don’t have to beat them all—just distract them long enough for the shield matrix around the planet to go up.” “Isn’t that your homeworld, cap’n?” Millie chirps. “I thought they didn’t believe in generators. Or any tech.” I nail a Neg fighter with a photon blast, sending its remains hurtling. “My brother and I have spent years trying to convince them that survival is worth breaking a few outdated rules. Hey Hez, you think this will finally get our point across?” Hez scoffs. “Not a chance. The battle’s barely visible from the surface.” “Negs keep coming, sir.” Dax spins past me, voidblasts blazing on all sides. “The shield matrix is almost ready,” Hez says. “Hold them off a while longer.” “Oh! I still have my fission charge!” Millie exclaims. Use that right, and it could be the edge we need. “Slingshot formation! Millie in the rear.” White light bursts from Millie’s fighter, and she spins away, seemingly out of control. Dax disintegrates a Neg, then dives through its wreckage toward Newhaven. I join him. Most of the Negs turn after us, spewing voidblasts on all sides. Good. Millie’s ruse is working. “A hundred Negs coming for ya, Hez.” I swerve to the right. “Be ready.” “What’s happening?” Hez asks. “This hologrid has more black dots than a cow pie!” “Those are Negs. I’m gonna drop them planetside. Block them with shields, or they’ll explode on impact. Probably take out an acre of farmland each.” “What the hell are you thinking?—Now look what you’ve tempted me into!” “Just words, Hez.” “How ‘bout tying a millstone around your neck and jumping into the sea, Ezekiel?” A voidblast nails me in the wing. My shield absorbs the damage, but the impact sends me spinning. I curse. “Shield down!” Dax yells. “Millie!” I lean over my control panel, brow furrowed in concentration. “Where’s that fission charge?” The power of a miniature sun erupts behind me. Brilliant light reflects off Newhaven’s surface and floods my cockpit. I spiral away as a wave of energy rips my pursuers apart. Millie whoops. I laugh and fly to her wing. Together, we unleash a volley of photon blasts on the remaining Negs. The cowards scatter. “Get Dax a shield, Hez.” I boost after the Negs with a grin, dodging and twisting in ways that would be impossible in atmosphere, fighting alongside my friends to protect the innocents below. This is what I was made to do. Of course, it would be nice if the family I’d left behind would appreciate that I’m risking my neck to keep them safe. “Still blocking this junk you dropped on me,” Hez grunts. “Nearly destroyed Deacon Thomas’s homestead.” A tsunami of Negs appears from the elsespace in front of me. Their voidblasts slam into my ship, overwhelming my shield and disintegrating my left wing. I reach for my warp drive. “Uh, cap’n?” Millie’s voice quavers. “You weren’t planning for this to be a heroic last stand, were you? ‘Cause my warp drive just got hit—I can’t make the jump.” No way am I leaving Millie to the Negs. I ignore the drive, instead fighting to regain control of my tumbling ship. Time for Plan B—a plan that Father will find rather inconvenient. “Matrix is ready,” Hez says. “Don’t deploy it until I say so.” I plunge back toward Newhaven, fists clenched around my controls. “Millie, Dax, get planetside! Now!” Millie cries out. Her ship spins past mine, debris trailing from its rear. “Eject as soon as you enter the atmosphere.” I disengage weapons, devoting all power to the engine. “You’ll be fine, all right? Trust me.” “Ohhhhhhh kayyyy!” Millie’s voice rattles through the comlink as her ship enters Newhaven’s orbit. I enter the atmosphere, the impact against the air throwing me forward. Red lights flash. “Now, Hez!” I grab the eject lever and pull. My seat hurls me into the sky while the rest of my fighter plummets to Newhaven’s surface. My parachute opens, and I glance skyward to see a grid of purple squares stretched across the sky. Several Neg fighters crash into it and explode. Millie and Dax parachute in the distance. Below lies the community we just saved from certain doom—by obliterating every rule they live by. I’d best break that news to Father gently. I tap the com on my wrist. “Perfect, Hez. I need you to carry a message to Father and Mother. We’re having a family reunion—and I brought friends.” The End *** Family Reunion is my first foray into a new genre: Amish sci-fi. It's not a well-known genre. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's only one Amish sci-fi novel in existence, and while I found the premise of that book interesting, the overall plot was mediocre. You get to judge my own attempt: how did you like Family Reunion? Did it engage you? Make you laugh? Do you wonder what will happen as Ezekiel returns to the life he left behind? I recently discovered a document that I forgot I'd written, one explaining how exactly the Amish ended up colonizing other planets and how their society evolved in response to the influence of a warlike alien race, the Telek'varr. Perhaps I'll flesh out those notes into a story someday. -Zachary Holbrook
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Progress on Doombear, Rough draft:10%
Progress on The Lore of Yore, third draft:
100%
"In truth, by leaving, I was seeking only one thing. A journey."
-Oathbringer, pg 981 Types of blog posts:
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