The Third Side (Battle for the Solar System, #2) (The Battle for the Solar System Series)

---

Final Assault Biofab 4. Echoes of the Past. The Middle of Nowhere. Battle Earth II Book 2. The Omniverse The Unearthing. Battle for Cilicia Star Legions: The Ten Thousand Book 1. The Sands of Karathi. Battle Earth IV Book 4. Battle Earth IX Book 9. Flames of War Star Crusades: Six Against The Stars.

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 8: Battle Earth [Remastered Edition] Book 1. Ghost Soldiers Star Crusades: Battle Earth XI Book Battle Earth X Book The Spectre of Oblivion. Battle Earth VI Book 6. Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9: The Battle for the Solar System Book 2. How to write a great review. The review must be at least 50 characters long. The title should be at least 4 characters long. Your display name should be at least 2 characters long.

She's getting a lot more respect and admiration from senior command, too. Looks like she's finally getting all the recognition that she always wanted. Though that wasn't all. Kelly remembered the look on Estelle's face when she had come to her new quarters aboard Spirit Orbital, to show her her pay cheque. There had quite literally been another digit added to the total. Allegedly, with the increased amount of money that Estelle was now sending home, the de Winters had moved house twice. And, for the first time in nearly ten years, Jed was now walking without the aid of a cane, the family at last able to afford the surgery to correct his knee.

Though she cut short of telling her father how the two men were capitalizing on their fame to exploit some of the female cadets, much to Estelle's great irritation. Well, Chaz is Chaz. He's hardly brightened at all. Aaron nodded in understanding. She was almost done. Kelly paused momentarily as she finalized the entries to be sent over. Odd question; she was sure he already knew.

That's quite a long time really, isn't it? Along the bottom of the screen, a small notification appeared and a luminous horizontal white bar began to fill, indicating the transfer progress. It was filling rather slowly. After all of this, I intend to stay for at least two weeks. Up until now, her father had been one hundred percent behind her naval career, doing whatever he could to help her succeed and get through the difficult times. She felt a little bewildered. Don't you think it's time for a change?

You must be ready for something else by now, surely? I mean, you're not thinking about staying there forever, are you? Kelly stared at her father for a moment. Did he really just say that?

Kindle Feature Spotlight

Was he really asking her to pack it in and come home? Something wasn't quite right there. His face looked sincere, but there was something else there - there was concern; something was amiss. For several months now, Kelly had had a number of questions playing on her mind, all of which begged for immediate answers. One in particular she had wanted to discuss face-to-face with her father, and with the data transfer showing no signs of finishing up any time soon, now was as good a time as any.

There was a pause. The man started to touch absent-mindedly at parts of his face, tugging gently at his ear lobes. You're hiding something from me , Kelly thought. Whenever her father became nervous, he would begin to scratch at some non-existent itch, usually located somewhere about his face. His ear lobes would suffer the most if he was feeling particularly pressured.

He had never been a very good bluffer as a result. He hadn't totally denied the freighter's existence and she was certain of what she had seen when she and the other White Knights had approached Arlos starport. Where was it taking those people? Aaron composed himself, taking his hand from his face. Something there looked to be begging to be scratched. Some deep space pilots have been known to suffer from mild delusions, caused by spending too much time out there. They claim to see people and faces, and hear whispering voices and such.

It never is anything of the sort - the brain is very good at picking out things that aren't really there.

That's why people used to think they saw ghosts in old photographs. Kelly couldn't help but scowl. There was little doubt in her mind that he knew what she was talking about, and perhaps even some things that she didn't. What was it he wasn't telling her? Why didn't he want to tell her? The console before her jingled. The little progress bar at the bottom of the screen had now filled. The transfer was complete. It must've sped up when they were talking. Another odd, out of the blue question. I never take it off. She rubbed at the pendent, subtly feeling the engraving.

He looked as though he wanted to say something else. He was clearly very worried for her, for reasons he refused to share. Or maybe for reasons he thought she was better off not knowing. Kelly smiled back at him, though unable to help feel sadness entering into it.

The vibration that shuddered its way across the carrier's bridge was accompanied by a deep rumbling, coming from somewhere lower down within the vessel. Before him stood the ship's acting captain, Commodore Christian Hail.

Dodds strained to hear the man clearly, as the grumbling from the stricken vessel drowned out the brief he was attempting to deliver. A tremendous boom silenced him and the ship gave a sudden lurch. Dodds was almost knocked off his feet as Estelle crashed into his side. He set himself and his commanding officer straight, and looked back to Hail. Hail raised a hand and looked around to the frontal viewport.

Hail went to stand by the helmsman's console, taking hold of the back of the operator's seat for support, and began pointing and gesturing at both the console and the viewport. His words were lost to Dodds' ears, consumed by the distance, continuous rumblings and wail of alarms. Dodds watched him for a time, before his eyes moved to the scene beyond the carrier, seen through the massive central viewport.

Ahead of them loomed the increasingly huge, blue form of Mythos. Ifrit was now so close to the planet that Dodds was able to start making out the more intricate details of the many continents below. Streaks of white cloud lay scattered over the vast blue oceans and yellowy-green land masses, giving the planet the appearance of a huge, misty marble. Between the carrier and the planet a desperate battle raged, Ifrit 's meagre complement of starfighters totally overwhelmed by the sheer weight of numbers that made up the opposing forces.

With its position towards the rear half of the carrier, Ifrit 's bridge presented its occupants with a view of the top of the enclosed flight deck. From his experience of visits to similar class carriers, Dodds would have expected to see a great fiery emblem of the carrier's namesake spread across the top.

Further forward, two plasma accelerator cannons would be affixed to the bow, as well as a number of other cannons, dotted across the surface. The sight that greeted him now couldn't be more different - the bow of Ifrit was shattered, torn and crumpled, as though the ship had been driven headlong into a thick, impenetrable wall. Somewhere in that mess of battered steel were the accelerators, never to be fired again. The emblem of the fiery jinn was all but gone, the outer surface of the forward portion of the ship blackened by impacts from laser, plasma, missile and rocket fire.

Parts of it looked as though they had been split apart by a great knife. The carrier's shielding had long since relinquished its full power to the onslaught of fire the enemy had thrown against it. Every now and again, as a plasma round missed its intended target and crashed into the carrier, a thin skin of rippling blue light would materialise, the sliver being all that remained of the defences. It would dissipate quickly, the energy barrier seemingly unable to fend off even the most trivial of attacks.

Many of the defensive cannons that Dodds could still make out were a shadow of their former selves. And whilst some didn't appear to have suffered as much damage as their cousins, they stood silently by as Imperial starfighters wheeled overhead, the turrets not even turning to track them. A few of the carrier's remaining offensive armaments still functioned, though their rate of fire had diminished greatly, the efforts now more akin to that of a garden hose, whose inconsistent water pressure was causing it to splutter. With Hail still issuing orders to the helmsman at the front, Dodds' eyes strayed to the screens of the operators, who sat at consoles parallel to the central aisle.

The operators were working frantically at their systems, conferring with one another and jabbing at the screens and consoles before them. Many of the screens were displaying statistics and information pertaining to the particular system the officer was currently assigned to monitoring. Others were displaying the health states of various parts of the ship. One that he could see was displaying a two-dimensional overview of the carrier, appearing like a set of schematics.

Many of the different sectors of Ifrit were reported to be suffering from considerable stress, bands of yellow and red splashed throughout the graphic. There were few remaining undamaged portions of the vessel left, as far as he could see; not a single part of the overview suggesting any sector of the carrier was operating under normal conditions.

He then caught sight of one of the live security camera feeds from the lower decks of the ship. It was cycling between views every few seconds. Each rotation of the feed painted a grim picture. The image was a little hazy in the current feed, but the floor of the corridor it monitored could clearly be seen to be littered with debris and molten metals, from where the ship's invaders had blasted their way in through a bulkhead.

There was movement somewhere further up the corridor, around a corner. Dodds could see feet moving and shadows leaping. The image cycled again, this time showing a woman running. In pursuit behind her was a figure clad entirely in black. One of the invading soldiers. Their head was covered by a full black helmet, shielding the view of their face. Though the woman appeared to be running for all her worth, the soldier chasing after her was moving fast.

From their build - a thick torso, with large muscles on their arms and legs - it looked to be a man. He caught up with the woman in mere seconds, his stride and speed easily outstripping that of his quarry.

Reward Yourself

He stretched out a hand and grabbed hold of her arm, yanking her to a halt. Dodds caught a short glimpse of the look of sheer terror on the woman's face as she was spun around to meet her opponent. Though she struggled against him, the man was far taller and considerably stronger than she was. It was like watching a fully-grown man tackling a child. The soldier's hands closed around her head, and in one quick movement her neck was broken.

He performed the action with considerable ease, as though he was snapping nothing but a dry twig. The solider let the woman's body slide to the floor, the ruby-red eyes of the helmet watching her limp form crumble down for but a scant few moments before he set off again, stepping over her body, in search of his next target. The feed cycled once more. This time, the scene was that of a battle within a slightly larger area of the ship, a control room of some sort.

There, personnel were once again fighting a losing battle against the unstoppable invaders. Men and women were taking cover behind walls, consoles and other equipment, whilst attempting to return fire. One of the black-suited soldiers was sprawled out on the floor, looking to have been gunned down. As the display continued to relay the feed of the fight, the soldier began to get back to their feet, quickly snatching up the weapon that had tumbled from their grasp as they had been downed.

They moved as if they had merely tripped, rather than having incurred multiple gunshot wounds. Dodds saw two of the carrier's crew exchange looks of exasperation and began shouting to others that couldn't be seen. You only wounded him! I saw them bleed!

The images did nothing to ease his discomfort of their shared predicament. He turned around to his companions, to see Enrique, Estelle, Kelly and Chaz all watching the same feed as he. Estelle looked as serious and determined as always, though Dodds knew that that was just a mask she practised well. Her eyes would often betray her true feelings, as they did so now. Kelly, on the other hand, had the telltale signs of distress written all over her face. Beside her stood Enrique, who may have been as calm as Estelle and Dodds himself, had he not clearly been concerned for Kelly's well-being.

Chaz caught Dodds' eye and Dodds once again saw that unsettling look - one of deep concern. Dodds turned back to the front, as Hail bounded back over. In the face of what was happening to his ship, Hail was speaking very calmly. Though Dodds couldn't help but feel he was hiding his true feelings well.

Hail held up a hand and shook his head, to prevent Estelle from saying any more. My mission priorities also forbid it. Should anything untoward happen during the course of the operation, I was to ensure the safety of those things above all else. These orders come directly from Fleet Admiral Jenkins herself. Given the current circumstances, I will first ensure that you five are able to safely reach the escape pods, before issuing the general call to abandon ship.

They are currently working to ensure you have a clear route there. Dodds agreed with her concern. They were going to jettison escape pods in the middle of this? They would be sitting ducks! They would have little in the way of manoeuvrability and the pods obviously lacked any sort of defensive or offensive capability. As far as he knew, they didn't even have energy shields. He once more looked past Hail, to the growing form of Mythos and suddenly realised the captain's intent.

You're going to make the journey down to Mythos and wait for the CSN to come get you. Your destination is a beach on the east coast of Sherland, not far from the city of New Malaga. It should prevent the Imperial fighters from giving chase. Yes, what about the ATAFs? At the time, Dodds had assumed the reason the five had been summoned to the bridge was to initiate a counter offensive with the fighter craft, just as they had done months earlier when faced with a similar situation.

A distress signal has already been broadcast and should reach naval headquarters within the hour. They will affect both your own rescue and the salvage operation for the ATAFs. Now, we must hurry! There is no time for any more questions! You and your team will escort the White Knights to the escape pods, for immediate departure. You are to avoid all contact with hostile forces wherever possible and head directly to the surface. From bridge, to lift, to command deck, to a second lift, the way was as clear as Cole had promised his security team would make it.

The escaping party was now made up of eleven - the five Knights ; five security personnel, one assigned as bodyguard to each pilot; and Cole himself. The men and women crammed themselves into the lift car, Cole allowing everyone else in before entering himself. Dodds looked over his fellow team mates. The expressions of concern still remained on each of their faces.

Join Kobo & start eReading today

He recalled the last time he had seen such collective distress - when they had been fleeing Arlos starport. The driving force back then had been the presence of six heavily armed soldiers, not unlike the ones that now littered the interior of the ship. The image of those uniforms and helmets was forever burned into his mind. Dressed entirely in black, there was little else in the way of colour, save for two somewhat extrinsic white insignias on their left breast and right upper arm, as well as a pair of piercing, ruby-red eyes.

He was sure he had heard the soldiers given a name at one time, too. What had they been called? A strange moniker; it escaped him. He wondered how Estelle was feeling, and looked past the tight huddle to where she was almost jammed into the corner. In times such as these, he knew her to start becoming quite pensive and begin drawing breath far quicker than normal.

It was something he knew was attributed to her character, rather than any kind of medical condition. Oddly, however, she appeared far calmer than he was expecting; calmer now than she had looked back up on the bridge. She looked more relaxed and focused, her eyes no longer betraying any sense of distress that she might have been feeling.

He wondered what had changed. Had she gone to her happy place? Was she simply performing some sort of breathing exercise, to help keep herself steady? Dodds had never known her to be one to believe in either of those kinds of things. He noticed her cup her hand over something in her jacket, feeling its shape. It looked as though she was checking that something was still there. Her eyes met his, but she made no other gesture. The communicator that Cole clutched tight in his hand suddenly squawked.

We need to make a slight alteration to the original route! Cole pulled back from the lift control he was about to activate and raised the communicator. They're going nuts with the cutters down here! It means we've had to seal off the most direct route to the escape pods. The communicator spat nothing but an indecipherable jumble of static and the odd barely recognisable word.

The Third Side

Cole swore and punched the lift controls. You've all had sled training, right? A general look of unease flickered across the faces of his security team. Cole looked from one member to the next, as the lift began its rapid descent. All of the security team raised their hands. Each of us will pair up with one of your team and guide us down to the surface. Estelle's voice was calm, yet determined, and Dodds found himself wishing that she would share the secret of her solace since leaving the bridge. He signalled to his team. The five men did as they were ordered, unstrapped weapons and handing them to each of the Knights.

Dodds reached out to take the proffered pistol, when another hand knocked his away. Estelle fixed him with a serious look. Dodds stared back at her incredulously. Dodds looked to Enrique and Chaz. Enrique gave a small shrug. Chaz said nothing, his expression unreadable. Adams, looks like you'll be shooting for two. The lift continued its descent, and less than a minute later the doors parted, revealing a short, dark corridor.

The doors were already open, the lift car waiting for them to enter. What happened next, Dodds could not accurately describe. Whether it had been because of the sirens, the flashing red alert, or simply because he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, he couldn't quite be sure. All he knew was that at one point he was keeping pace with the group and the next he had been knocked off his feet. An instant before the event, he had caught a glimpse of black, intermixed with greys and whites, and then he was hit in the side by what felt like a charging bull.

His world tumbled about him, shapes and colours blurring and intermixing with one another. He caught fleeting images of legs carrying on past and then he hit the floor, rolling over backwards as he did so. He tried to get to his feet, but with his world still turning he only staggered backward, crashing into two figures behind him and returning once more to the floor.

Looking up, he discovered the cause of his current predicament - two figures were grappling with one another. One was a member of Ifrit 's security, the other, one of the carrier's many invaders. The pair were fighting over a weapon of some kind. It looked like a shotgun. Dodds hunted around for the source of the voice, before - with shock - he regained his orientation.

Whilst at first he believed the two fighting men to be behind him, he discovered them to actually be standing between him and the lift leading toward the sled bay. Beyond the tussling pair, he could see Cole and a number of the Knights ' escorts attempting to contain the group within the car. Enrique and Chaz were struggling against them, trying to get out, to get back to him. Dodds heard something clatter to the floor.

The shotgun that had been the object of the struggle between the black-suited solider and the security guard had fallen from both their grasps. It bounced and skirted along the floor, away from them. The solider ignored it and instead thrust out a gloved hand, gripping the security guard tightly around the throat. His victim began to choke and Dodds was certain that, even over the other noises that were flooding the corridor, he heard something crack. The grip was a strong one, he knew that all too well himself; certainly, the man's feet were no longer fully rested on the floor.

Dodds pulled himself up and made to head to the lift, but the close by sounds of choking gave him pause. He saw himself escaping into the lift with his friends, doing nothing to help the security guard, and leaving the man to die. He couldn't bring himself to do that. The security guard's eyes flickered to Dodds, seeming to suggest he follow Cole's suggestion and get away while he still could. Reluctantly, Dodds agreed, starting forward.

At the same time, the black-suited solider released his grip on his victim's throat, letting the man slide choking and spluttering to the floor, turning to meet Dodds' approach.

The ATAF Project - a secretly developed set of starfighters that may well just harbour some terrible secrets of their own. Amazon Media EU S. Books in this series 3 Books Hide books already in your library 0. Buy now with 1-Click. Simon Dodds has had his wings clipped. Shot down over the luxurious holiday planet Mythos and separated from his wingmates, he is quick to discover that the once-popular sun-soaked paradise has been transformed into a nightmarish war zone, swarming with armies of seemingly unstoppable black-suited soldiers.

The Pandoran war machine is on the move, preparing to advance The Mission and deal to the rest of the galaxy the same fate it did the Mitikas Empire. Unaware of what fate may have befallen his friends, the young pilot attempts to make his way through the dangerous streets of the war-torn city of New Malaga, as he waits for the CSN to rush to the rescue. But from out of the chaos emerges something far more terrible; and if Dodds can somehow survive the next 24 hours, he might finally see beyond the lies he has been fed and hear a side to the story that no one wants him to: Whether he likes it or not.

There are three sides to every story. But sometimes the truth is the hardest side to believe. The Pandoran War is nearing its end In the seven years following on from the Pandoran's push beyond the Mitikas Empire, the allied forces of the Helios Confederation and Independent worlds have fought a bitter series of unwinnable battles, being pushed back further and further as the enemy war machine continued its unrelenting assault against all those that opposed it.

Get A Copy

• Christmas Cards ~ Life Between the Lines
• PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) Review: Pearls of Wisdom, Third Edition
• Deadly Ties: A Novel (Crossroads Crisis Center)
• ReViewing Chess: Ruy Lopez (Spanish), Moeller and Steinitz Deferred (ReViewing Chess: Openings)
• Bloodfetish - Erotic Stories & Poetry
• Rocky Roads: The Journeys of Families through Suicide Grief
• Hot Nights, Dark Desires