Exclusive Excerpt: Heirs of the Ancients

As promised, here is an exclusive excerpt from the upcoming novel "Heirs of the Ancients." This is book two of The Three World Chronicles. The book is not quite finished but expect publication within a few months!

Without further ado: "Heirs of the Ancients"

The Negotiator sat in the semi-darkened room, waiting for the arrival of The Emissary. Decades passed since the D’lai had been vanquished in the skies above Gathung’l and Earth. The shame of Negotiator D’iash left an immutable scar upon the D’lai consciousness. Those few who remained fled to the scorched and ruined planet Cathar Prime in a desperate bid to find a shred of peace. In systems all over the Orion Arm, countless D’lai ships had been disabled and destroyed, thanks to the discovery of the smuggler Zea Windrow. Her FTL jump trick sent many thousands of D’lai to their doom in the stars they still believed theirs to rule.

Now, alone and virtually homeless, the D’lai remnant waited and planned for their triumphant return. It took years, but they slowly rebuilt Cathar Prime in their own image. Any Cathari who dared to defy their right rule this scarred planet they banished with the same cruelty they were once subjected to. 

Cathar Prime had once been home to the Cathari Alliance and boasted beautiful cities and graceful countryside. Now, even after over twenty years since the violent conquest of the planet, no corner was free of devastation. The former capital city had never been rebuilt. The D’lai  left it as a memorial and a reminder for the ordinary Cathari of their eternal shame, and crushing defeat. Smaller cities slowly sprang up out of the ruins, and the D’lai and Cathari now maintained an uneasy peace.

Among the survivors of the D’lai fleets arose a new Negotiator. He studied under the disgraced Ret D’iash and learned her cruel but cunning methods of conquest, command, and fear. Brik Zat’ol had been aboard The Spector when the final battle had been lost. Zat’ol witnessed first-hand the cruelty of D’iash in not only implementing her conquest plans, but in how she dealt with the secretive cabal of Commanders that attempted to overthrow her rule. Zat’ol, a junior officer on board The Spector, had been recruited to the cabal himself. His greatest accomplishment in the battle did not shower him in glory, but it did bring him personal pride. He found the dying Negotiator in a corridor outside and her quarters caused her death. The memory still brought him pleasure.

Now he sat in this poorly lit room awaiting the visit of an Emissary from the ancient Umawei Empire. Anticipation of the meeting thrilled him. Centuries in the past, when the D’lai had been expelled from Cathar Prime by a religious sect called the Däk’in, the D’lai encountered the remnants of the Umawei Empire. Awed by the mega structures left by these mysterious aliens, the D’lai believed they found the origins of their planet.