Bender of Worlds Read online

  BENDER OF WORLDS

  Star Warrior 2

  Isaac Hooke

  Contents

  BOOKS BY ISAAC HOOKE

  Preface

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  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

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Tane Ganeth

  White Essenceworks

  Dark Essenceworks

  Dark and White Essenceworks

  Skills

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Closing

  BOOKS BY ISAAC HOOKE

  Space Opera / LitRPG

  Star Warrior

  Star Warrior

  Bender of Worlds

  Military Science Fiction

  ATLAS Trilogy

  (published by 47North)

  ATLAS

  ATLAS 2

  ATLAS 3

  Alien War Trilogy

  Hoplite

  Zeus

  Titan

  Argonauts

  Bug Hunt

  You Are Prey

  Alien Empress

  Quantum Predation

  Robot Dust Bunnies

  City of Phants

  Rade’s Fury

  Mechs vs. Dinosaurs

  A Captain's Crucible

  Flagship

  Test of Mettle

  Cradle of War

  Planet Killer

  Worlds at War

  Science Fiction

  The Forever Gate Series

  The Dream

  A Second Chance

  The Mirror Breaks

  They Have Wakened Death

  I Have Seen Forever

  Rebirth

  Walls of Steel

  The Pendulum Swings

  The Last Stand

  Thrillers

  The Ethan Galaal Series

  Clandestine

  A Cold Day in Mosul

  Terminal Phase

  Visit IsaacHooke.com for more information.

  Copyright © 2018 by Isaac Hooke

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  www.IsaacHooke.com

  Cover design by Isaac Hooke

  Cover image by Shookooboo

  Preface

  I made some changes to Book 1 based on feedback from both my advanced review team and from release week readers. Some of those changes didn’t make it into the book until after the official launch.

  Long and short of it: if you remember Jed being something other than a Volur like Lyra, it means you read an earlier copy of Book 1. You can reread Book 1 if you like—you’ll probably have to contact Amazon and ask them to give you an updated copy, or go to “manage my kindle” and do it from there. You can also refer to the Change Log on my website for details on the updates, which also includes the dates the revisions were made:

  http://isaachooke.com/star-warrior-changes

  At a minimum, if you’ve never heard of S’Wraathar, I would recommend skimming the final two chapters of the updated Book 1 while keeping an eye out for his name.

  Otherwise, all you really need to know for Book 2 is that Jed and Lyra are now both Volur with different skill sets. And S’Wraathar is a dweller who hates Tane and Sinive very, very much.

  - Isaac

  1

  Vibrations transmitted up the leg assembly of Tane’s spacesuit as the cabin of the Grizzly Cub shook.

  “They’ve grappled onto us,” Jed said. The gray-haired man sat across from Tane in the cramped cabin of the shuttle. Battle armor covered him from head to toe, its surface glowing with the subtle halo of Essence enhancement. The deadly-looking spikes on the elbows formed an armrest of sorts for him in his seat. Beyond the glass pane of his helmet, a silver ring and labret pierced his eyebrow and lower lip, respectively, crinkling the surrounding skin, which was already marred with lines of age. At his hips, a sheathed sword and pistol sat opposite one another, the hilts of each pulsing in time with the armor.

  “Where’s Nebb?” Sinive said. The smuggler’s assistant and jump specialist sat on Tane’s left side. She was clad in a spacesuit at the moment, like Tane. Behind the faceplate, her expression seemed oddly calm, though her eyes glinted with fear. The hair was pulled back from her face and into a stark braid, most of which he couldn’t see behind her faceplate at the moment, though her button nose, big blue eyes, and reddish, freckled cheeks were readily visible. She had a plasma pistol holstered inside her belt, next to the small pouch that served as her storage device and the rectangular piece of metal that was her shield generator.

  Lyra shook her head. She, too, wore a spacesuit. Only her face was visible inside the helmet, but what a truly spectacular face it was. If beauty had a personification, it would be her. Ringlets of dark hair fell around high cheekbones, a perfect nose, flawless skin, and almond-shaped eyes. Those eyes... there was a coldness in them, an arrogance, and a hint of cruelty. But there was goodness there, too. From her belt hung a beam hilt and a pouch.

  “Nebb’s too far,” Lyra said in that mellifluous voice of hers. “The TSN won’t allow the Red Grizzly to close with us. Not now.” That was the name of the Rapier-class ship the smuggler owned. “And even if he could reach us, his jump specialists are both exhausted. They couldn’t create a distortion tunnel to leave the system if their lives depended on it.”

  “If his specialists were rested it wouldn’t matter,” Jed said. “The TSN would simply dispel any distortion tunnel attempts with their Essence disruptors. There are enough ships out there to easily stop him.” The big man shook his head. “No, they won’t let us leave the system. Not after what Tane did out there.”

  What I did out there...

  “I didn’t do very much,” Tane said weakly from where he was sprawled in his seat. He said it not out of modesty, but because the last hour still didn’t quite seem real to him.

  Sinive snorted. “That’s the understatement of the year. You only repelled an entire alien invasion force with your mind.”

  Tane sighed. “Yes, but I did it with the help of a dark artifact, and the hull of a Decantium class cruiser, both of which are gone now.” Enunciating the words seemed difficult, and he had to force out each syllable. “I destroyed the two because I Siphoned too much Essence through them. Because I couldn’t control myself.”

  “No, you did it because you had to,” Lyra said. “If the dwellers had succeeded, their massive fleet would have jumped to systems throughout the galaxy and decimated the human population.”

  “And that is exactly why TSN wants you,” Jed said. “And the aliens as well. With the ability to wield both Essences, you can direct the huge amount of energy provided by a starship’s hull without relying
on pre-programmed Essence throwers. You can create any work you please from the hurricane of stellar wind. You’re a weapon. An incredible one. Whichever side can lay claim to you will destroy the other.”

  “But I don’t want to destroy anyone,” Tane said. Especially not right now. He just wanted to go to sleep. For an eternity, at that, given how utterly terrible he felt now.

  “It won’t matter, not when they inject nanotech into your brain to control your mind,” Jed said. “You’ll do whatever they ask.”

  Tane closed his eyes, wishing for sleep, but was too tired even for that. Not that sleep was the best idea right about now anyway, given the TSN had just grappled their shuttle.

  “You have access to mind control nanotech, don’t you?” Tane said after a moment, keeping his eyes closed. “You could have injected me, turned me into your puppet, and yet you didn’t.”

  “Lyra and I would never to do that, not to anyone,” Jed said. “Other Volur, though, would have no issues with it.”

  “A weapon...” Sinive said. “To the dwellers, the TSN, and the Volur, maybe. But to the rest of the galaxy, he’s a hero. I’ll bet some 3D video has already slipped out onto the Galnet. Everyone will be talking about the crazy guy in the spacesuit who singlehandedly defeated an entire dweller fleet.”

  Tane opened one eye. “If I’m such a great hero, why don’t I feel like one? I just want to crawl into a dark hole somewhere and die.” He closed his eyes again and turned away, trying to get comfortable in his chair. “You know what? I just don’t care anymore. I’m too tired to give a damn. Let them take me. With luck, they’ll kill me and put me out of my misery.”

  “They’re reeling us in,” Cub announced.

  “How long do we have?” Jed asked the shuttle’s AI.

  “Thirty seconds until we’re mounted underneath the collection craft,” Cub replied. “The tow vehicle in question is already bringing us toward one of the warships. We’ll be docked with the host vessel in approximately two minutes.”

  “So we have around two and a half minutes until they come knocking,” Sinive said.

  “Are you strong enough to hold them off?” Jed asked someone.

  Obviously not Tane, who was in no condition to do anything.

  “I haven’t recovered yet,” Lyra said. Ah, so that was who he was talking to.

  “I can’t step into the Essence at the moment…” Jed said.

  “I got my pistol,” Sinive said.

  Tane sighed. He couldn’t give up. Not yet. They were going to have to fight.

  He turned in his seat and faced the others. “And I have my D18.”

  He tried to rub his eyes but gloved fingers touched his faceplate. He pulled up the inventory on his storage pouch, and retrieved the D18 plasma rifle from within.

  “We have to stall them,” Sinive said, drawing her pistol. “When we dock, we’ll tell them our ramp is acting up. That we can’t open it.”

  “Won’t matter,” Lyra said. “They have laser cutters.”

  “What if we left the shuttle before we docked?” Tane said.

  “And spacewalked?” Lyra said. “To where? We won’t get very far. Not when they have all those shuttles out there, each and every one of them equipped with grappling hooks. Here.” She reached into her storage pouch, and produced five rings. “Put these on. They’ll make you feel better.”

  Tane slid the D18 over his shoulder and readily accepted the rings. He recognized them as the Chrysalium rings she had lent him in the past. He ran a quick ID on one of them.

  Item: Chrysalium Star Ring I

  Item type: Rare.

  Additional Effects: None.

  Essence-Imbued bonus: +1 Endurance while equipped.

  Chrysalium bonus: +1 Intelligence while equipped.

  The stats on the others were equivalent. Since the cabin was pressurized, he removed his glove to slide the rings on. He was able to put two each on his index and middle fingers, and one on his thumb. He felt better immediately. Not enough to jump up and dance a jig or anything, but at least he didn’t feel like throwing himself into a plasma inductor to end his bone-weary existence anymore.

  He received a notification on his HUD.

  Endurance bonus: +5.

  Intelligence bonus: +5.

  He slid his glove back on and the suit re-pressurized; the usual sonic injector applied an accelerant into the back of his hand to help him acclimate to the pressurized environment. He took a quick glance at his attribute page:

  Name: Tane Ganeth (Spoofed: Doug Grays)

  Race: Human

  Level: 6

  Class: Essence Engineer (Spoofed: Professional Video Game Player)

  Strength: 9

  Intelligence: 12 (17 with rings equipped)

  Dexterity: 11

  Endurance: 17 (22 with rings equipped)

  Charisma: 8

  The beam hilt he wore at his belt would further increase his Endurance and Intelligence if he gripped it, however he wouldn’t be able to utilize the plasma rifle if he did that.

  Too bad.

  Tane lowered the D18 back down from his shoulder and kept the muzzle aimed at the cabin floor.

  “Maybe we can reason with them,” Sinive said. “Tell them we’ll kill their precious Bender of Worlds if they don’t let us go.” She looked at Tane. “We’re not serious of course, but they don’t have to know that.”

  “No,” Jed said. “If we make a threat like that, they’ll just try to get aboard all the faster.”

  Lyra studied Tane. She opened her mouth and closed it again, as if uncertain whether to impart what was on her mind. Finally she spoke: “There’s one final recourse we have.”

  “I’m listening,” Tane said.

  “The storage device.”

  Tane felt his brows furrow. “The storage device?”

  “Yes,” Lyra said. “I can stow you inside my storage device, placing you into the shielded pocket of the Umbra that it opens into.” The Umbra was the universe that sat just beneath their own, and was where the dwellers originally came from.

  “Won’t the TSN just retrieve me when they capture you?” Tane asked. “They’ll disable any traps you’ve placed on your storage device, and then open it up...”

  “They can’t retrieve you if you’re not there anymore,” Lyra said. She removed a small metal cube from her pouch and placed it in his gloved hand. “Once you’re inside, use this to disable the battery powering the energy fields. It’s an EM pulse generator. Once active, it will disable the electronics keeping the energy fields in place. It will allow you to break free.”

  “And just drift aimlessly into deep space?” Tane said. “In some random spot in the Umbra?”

  “Correct,” Lyra said.

  “I’ll go with him,” Jed said.

  “You’ll have to jet away as soon as possible,” Lyra said. “Eventually they’ll send probes into my storage device. But they won’t be able to detect you once you’ve drifted more than ten kilometers away. ”

  Jed nodded. “I’ll have to use half my oxygen as propellant. Depending on the existing location of the Umbral pocket, and its potential orbit around nearby gravity wells, it could take anywhere from a minute to an hour to move out past the ten kilometer range. Will you be able to hold the TSN off long enough?”

  “We’ll have to,” Lyra said. She glanced at Sinive. “Put away your pistol. Our stalling will be of the non-violent sort. We can’t help Tane if we force the TSN to kill us.”

  “Well it’s a great plan and all that,” Tane said. “Except for one small problem. Jed and I will be left drifting in the middle of nowhere in deep space. In another universe. How are you supposed to retrieve us?”

  “Take this, too.” Lyra knelt to open up a hidden panel in the floor of the cabin. He recognized the small glowing object she removed: the beacon stone.

  Tane secured the EM pulse generator to his harness via one of the attachment loops and accepted the new item. “You can use the stone to create a distortion
tunnel to my location?”

  “Once Sinive and I have escaped from the TSN, we’ll have to bring a starship into the Umbra,” Lyra said. “And once we’re there, we can use that ship to jump to your vicinity, yes. I’ll have to be within a kilometer of your location before I can create the tunnel: I’m not strong enough to do it from any farther. Just make sure you don’t stow the stone in your storage pouch, or we’ll arrive at the wrong location entirely.”

  “So it sounds like you can track the stone even when you’re beyond the one-kilometer range,” Tane said.

  “I can sense whether I’m moving closer or farther away from it, yes,” Lyra said.

  Tane frowned. “The galaxy is a big place… how will you even know what system we’re in? Assuming we’re not deposited somewhere in interstellar space.”

  “The higher-end pouches list the exact Umbral locations they open to in their specs,” Lyra said. “Part of an insurance policy against failure. Not that anyone would ever visit the Umbra to personally retrieve their lost items—they hire Retrieval Specialists for that. And yes, this particular pouch definitely opens into a system. I’ve already wiped the coordinates from the specs, so the TSN won’t be able to lift the information from the device.”