The Station Core: A Dungeon Core Epic (Station Cores Book 1) Read online

  The Station Core

  A Dungeon Core Epic

  Station Cores Book 1

  By: Jonathan Brooks

  Cover Art by: Melissa Schrank

  Copyright ©2018 Jonathan Brooks.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  The following is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, businesses, corporations, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to any actual persons, places, or events is purely coincidental.

  Artwork Copyright ©2018 Melissa Schrank

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this book, which as usual means that I subjected my wife to another round of reading my first draft, complete with errors.

  I would also like to thank Melissa Schrank for her awesome cover art!

  A big shout-out to my alpha reader – Grant Harrell. Your feedback has helped to make this book even better!

  Many thanks to my beta readers as well – your input helped to fine-tune the story and fix some errors I previously missed:

  Richard Griffiths

  Matthew Rogers

  Kevin Crenshaw-Davis

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Foreword

  Prologue – Hope

  Part I – A Whole New World

  Chapter 1 – And away we go

  Chapter 2 – Where the heck am I?

  Chapter 3 – History lesson

  Chapter 4 – Sciurophobia

  Chapter 5 – Obtain quests, check!

  Chapter 6 – The process of shitting a brick

  Chapter 7 – Bear-ly ready

  Chapter 8 – Level up!

  Chapter 9 – Roll on down to your hidey-hole

  Chapter 10 – Trap king

  Chapter 11 – Leakage

  Chapter 12 – *Pop*

  Chapter 13 – Trap design 2.0

  Chapter 14 – Epic fail

  Chapter 15 – Goal-tending

  Chapter 16 – Puppies!

  Chapter 17 – Aww…they’re almost cute

  Chapter 18 – The first engagement

  Chapter 19 – Party up!

  Chapter 20 – Quick lizards

  Chapter 21 – You got this

  Chapter 22 – Bonus!

  Chapter 23 – Facility fabrication

  Chapter 24 – Once again into the wild

  Part II – Natives

  Chapter 25 – The “Beast War”

  Chapter 26 – Abilities

  Chapter 27 – Stupid Picow

  Part III – Revelations

  Chapter 28 – Automation

  Chapter 29 – Bioconversion Laboratory

  Chapter 30 – Proctans

  Chapter 31 – Discovery

  Chapter 32 – Speak now, or forever hold your peace

  Chapter 33 – Consequences

  Chapter 34 – The Milton

  Chapter 35 – Entrepreneurship

  Chapter 36 – Emergency

  Chapter 37 – I’ll kill them all!

  Chapter 38 – Never split the party

  Chapter 39 – Underwhelming traps

  Chapter 40 – See! I told you…

  Chapter 41 – Mutations

  Epilogue – Rebirth

  Final Stats

  Author’s Note

  Tables

  Foreword

  Thanks for choosing to read The Station Core!

  I wanted this book to be accessible to everyone, not just hardcore stat lovers like me. While reading, you will notice that there are footnotes scattered throughout the story. These are for those who want to dig into all the stat sheets, tables, and other informational tidbits that enhance the story – but are not necessary to enjoy it. Even if you don’t look at a single one, you are not going to miss out on the story as a whole. They are only there for people like me, who think, “the more information, the better,” is the way every book should be written. Knowing that everyone doesn’t share that same mindset, I wanted to give options to those who either don’t like stat sheets or wouldn’t miss them if they are not there.

  Regardless of how you want to go about reading this book, please enjoy!

  Prologue – Hope

  “Coming out of trans-dimensional jump now, Captain!” the Promory’s pilot announced.

  “About time…” the Captain muttered under his breath. He strapped into his chair, just as everyone on the bridge did the same. Although he was expecting some sort of deceleration, it felt more akin to his whole body being forced through a pinhole-sized tunnel that never seemed to end. When they finally arrived, his body sprang back to normal with an awkward and painful wrench.

  Praxa looked around from his Captain’s chair at his crew comprised of various members of The Collective. On their faces were differing degrees of relief as they realized they made it through the jump with their fleet whole. The trans-dimensional drives were a new technology that was still in the experimental stages and hadn’t been fully tested yet. It was developed over the last couple of years as both an escape plan and a way to find allies. He, and those who had come with him, were some of the first to fully utilize the drives – especially at such a long distance. They were able to cut down travel time from years to just minutes by forcing their ships to travel through a parallel dimension. He wasn’t sure exactly how it worked; he was just glad that it did.

  “Reports from the rest of the fleet report no casualties and no damage to their ships. They are converging on our location now. Shall I have them engage their stealth shields, sir?” Brolena – one of the Bovene race – was Praxa’s Communication Officer, and he looked over at her as she reported to him. Her soft brown eyes looked both excited and apprehensive, which was understandable given their current mission. He gave the order and watched her punch in the command with her daintily-trimmed hooves into the specially-made console. Her hairy ears flicked around the short horns on the top of her head as she listened to communications from the other ships. She raised her hoof up as an affirmative in his direction and he watched as his own console displayed the stealthed fleet falling into formation around his flagship.

  “Mid-range sensors detect no hostile defensive stations throughout the system and nothing but some primitive communicative technology in orbit around the planet. The scout ship seemed to be correct – there should be no way for them to detect us,” Cromene, his Defense Officer, informed him. Praxa could see that from his readout as well, but he looked at the Porlix in confirmation. Cromene’s jowls quivered in either nervousness or anticipation – he could never tell with the pink-skinned, snub-nosed, portly members of his race.

  “Very good everybody. Thadlo, you’re in charge until I’m back. I’m going to the conference room for a meeting with the ships’ captains – I shouldn’t be gone long.” As he left the room, he watched his second-in-command sit in his vacated chair, his suit circulating water over his body and face. His blue-skinned Aquanix Command Officer was as efficient as his predecessor – his father. Praxa and Thadlo’s father, Thendo, had been running starships through the various Collective colonies for years before the attacks. As ship production ramped up in response, the need for new captains meant that Thendo received his own brand-new ship to run. He knew it was in good hands – which is why he asked Thendo to come along on this mission.

  As he entered the transportati
on chamber, he felt a slight resistance as he was transported four decks to the living quarters. Just off the chamber exit, a conference room was located next to the individual crew cabins which he quickly entered and sat in the specially built conference chair. As soon as he sat down, he found himself in a large plain room, surrounded by nine other captains. I guess I was the last to arrive.

  “Sorry for the wait everybody. Now that we are here, let’s go over the plan—” he was interrupted, typically, by Gentif, the captain of the Moufged. His long black-haired face was locked in his typical timid appearance, followed by his unconscious tapping of his hooves together as he stood there. Although they were both Equints, Praxa thought they couldn’t be more different. Gentif’s demeanor was more like those of the Mouslan, the diminutive and timid people that lived peaceful lives in the grasslands of their homeworld.

  “I’m still not sure if we are doing the right thing. My crew and I are expressing major moral objections to this course of action. How is what we are doing any worse than what is being done to us?” Gentif interjected.

  Praxa wanted to ignore him, but he had been warring against his own conscience ever since he had learned of their objective. Although he knew they had very little choice, he didn’t like it any better than any other member of The Collective. He could see the same concern and objections on the faces of the other captains as well. However, they had come all this way – and braving an experimental drive to get here faster – to go back empty-handed due to moral objections. He needed to make them all see that this was their last chance and that they were different from the warlike and destructive Heliothropes.

  “Believe me, I share your concerns. I’ve been suffering over the morality of this since I first learned of it – but I’m still here. Do I want to do this? No – but I’m still here. We have a duty to save our peoples and this is the last option open to us. This is a last-ditch effort to fight back against the Heliothrope invaders and stop their subjugation and the sacrifices they are using us for. Does our mission make us like them? Quite possibly – but I’m still here.

  “Do you know why? Because we all have families back home who are counting on us to push past the ethical quandary we are faced with. I don’t want to see my wife, my mother, or my children subjected to the slavery and torture the Heliothropes have brought with them. We can’t fight them ourselves because our very nature won’t let us. Does the slavery of a few of these ‘humans’ in our own defense make us bad? Maybe – but I’m still here. And you’re still here too – you all know what is at stake. We can’t turn back now, we must push on and do that which is anathema to us. It will be hard, but I know I, you, we can do it.”

  After his speech, the room was quiet as the various captains silently considered his words. As he knew he would, Thendo was the first to speak up. “I don’t like it, but for my family and my people – I will do this. I’m with you, Captain Praxa.”

  One after another, the captains in the room agreed to go ahead with the mission until only Gentif was left. Praxa held his breath as he waited to see what he would say. If even one captain was against this, it was possible the others would change their minds. They were already on the fence and a little push might send them over to the other side. With a great sigh, which sounded more like a snort, Gentif agreed with the plan, “I still think there has to be another way – but we are out of time to find it. As much as it pains me to say it, let’s do it.”

  Inwardly, Praxa was conflicted – he was pleased that he was able to convince them all but also sad that he convinced them all. Now they had no choice but to get on with their mission. “Now that we’re all in agreement, let’s go over what we will be doing. Our scout identified one hundred potential candidates from their greatest military minds and soldiers. Unfortunately, two of those are currently no longer available. We need to discuss other options for who we can get to fill those empty cores.

  “As you know, each one we choose must be willing and able to defend themselves and in doing so, defend us from the Heliothropes. Once they are…acquired…their consciousness will be transferred to the Station Cores we have in our cargo bays. Once the Station Cores are installed in their final destinations, their personal memories will be wiped and replaced with unswerving loyalty to The Collective. They will have the ability to construct and develop defensive systems that can put answer to the invasion we have been suffering from.

  “These…Earthlings – or so they call themselves – are just the answer we’ve been looking for. Their ability to experience love, compassion, and kindness is balanced by their ability to wage terrible war on anyone threatening their way of life. They will do what we cannot and will not do, even to save our own lives – kill the enemy. Our passive defensive systems have proven worthy to defend against other hostile species in the past – but this new enemy doesn’t care one whit for our show of force. They have somehow bypassed our defensive planetary shields and taken the fight to the ground, where we have almost no defensive capability.

  “But you all know that – it’s why we are here. Does anyone have any suggestions for additional candidates? You’ve seen the scouting reports, so…suggestions?” Praxa looked around the room, hoping that someone had done their homework.

  There followed an unproductive discussion, with very few reasonable candidates. One even suggested a schoolteacher, to teach the Heliothropes a lesson on why they should reconsider their current course of action. Praxa realized they were intentionally delaying the inevitable, suggesting these random people in order to stall. He looked at his old CO, who had been silent up to now. As soon as the others realized his focus had changed, they quieted down and waited for Thendo to speak. Although they respected Praxa’s authority, Thendo was known more for his intelligent ideas and suggestions.

  “I’ve been thinking about this since I first heard about this mission. It might be a little unconventional and out-of-the-box, but I think I have a solution. Based on the scouting reports, there are many people on this world that play simulations of warfare but are not actually part of the military. These warfare simulations might make them better suited to control a defensive position, since they are used to utilizing defensive and offensive strategies – all without physically doing it themselves. They might be the perfect addition to our Station Core program, but I’ll leave it to you to decide,” he told the assembled captains.

  Now that they had a viable option, the group deferred to Thendo’s judgement and approved of the plan. Inwardly relieved, Praxa moved the meeting along and assigned the various targets they had agreed upon to each captain. After that, it was a simple strategy: arrive at the planet in stealth, transport the targets to their holding cells using their molecular teleportation devices, and start the conversion to Station Cores on their way back to home space.

  When he got back to the bridge, he took over from Thadlo and moved them into position. This was probably the easiest part of the whole operation, since the primitive people of this world had no way to stop or interfere with their mission. After a very short time – especially in relation to how long they had argued in the conference room – the transportation of their Station Core subjects was complete. Arriving back in formation, they headed out of the system before activating their trans-dimensional drives.

  Feeling the blissful expanding of his awareness that signaled the transition to another dimension, Praxa sat back in his chair and thought about the successful mission and what it would mean to all their peoples. He took the lead in this operation because he believed on the potential of these Station Cores; he realized that they were their best hope for salvation. The “Earthlings” they had obtained were already in the process of being converted to their new immortal shells and would be ready to insert into their specific destinations once they arrived. Which, once he looked at the ships’ clock, was soon due to these fancy new drives.

  “Coming out of trans-dimensional jump, now! We’re almost home, Captain!” the pilot announced, with excitement in his vo
ice. Bracing himself for the squeezing pain he had previously experienced, he found that it was actually worse when he was expecting it. When it was over, he slumped down in the chair and watched as the rest of the crew did the same.

  Suddenly, Cromene sat up and looked at his console. “Incoming Heliothrope ships! Bringing it up on screen!”

  Praxa could see the swarm of ships converging on their small fleet on his own console. “Brolena, tell the other ships to jump, NOW! We’ll distract them until they’re safe.” She quickly relayed the orders and Praxa told the pilot, “Defensive maneuvers, let’s give them some ti—” He never finished his orders as his ship was impacted by multiple Heliothrope missiles with explosive warheads. Their shields were shredded instantly, and the ship exploded, flinging debris and everything else it contained in all directions in a magnificent display of carnage.

  Part I – A Whole New World

  Chapter 1 – And away we go

  “I don’t care where it comes from, Milton, but you need to come up with your portion of the rent in three days. If you had an actual job, I’d feel better about letting you stay here. It’s getting really old wondering if you’re going to be able to afford rent each month.”

  Sometimes, Milton thought Terrence was a bit of a douchebag. Even though he knows where Milton gets his money, he always acts this way toward the end of the month. “I’ll have the money, don’t worry – have I ever let you down?”

  “No, you haven’t. But that doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be a first time. I know you’re my best bud, but we gotta be real here. How about you work on getting the money earlier in the month, that way I won’t be bugging you every day?”

  “I’ll work on that – now let me through and I’ll start working on that rent right now.” Terrence took his arm down from where it was blocking the entrance to the apartment and let him past. He saw that Samantha, Terrence’s new girlfriend, was sitting on the couch ignoring their whole conversation while she played with her phone. As she brought it up in front of her face and posed, he realized that she was taking selfies and probably posting them online somewhere. Never having taken a selfie, Milton really didn’t see what the big deal was – he didn’t even own a cell phone. Couldn’t afford it – besides, who would call him anyway? He talked to his brother once a week on the apartments’ landline and all his friends were either online or living with him.