THE PAX MAGELLANICA TRILOGY

Book One - Reichworld

A colony ship from the Nothern States of Europe leaves Earth at the end of the twenty-first century.... and disappears. Trapped in a worm-hole for two years, the ship emerges among the stars of the Larger Magellanic Cloud.

Mankind prospers there, fragmenting into trading empires, semi-regal Houses and free worlds. But there are signs of another species having passed through the same stars long ago, and, unknown to man, they are coming back from the inner region of the 'Cloud to reclaim them.

The second evidence of sentient life is discovered, a Gaeia-like entity that informs the humans of return of an aggressive and prolific species that seeks the death of the Gaeia-world in its bid to reclaim the worlds it so desperately needs. These worlds are now inhabited by man

A one-sided war ensues. Mankind is fragmented, with little cohesion between the groups, thwarted by suspicion and greed.

One group seeks to unite man. They call upon history and racial memory and forge the disparate groups into a political union. The Reich is born. Now man can fight back, and the resources of the remaining worlds are used to create sixty very special bio-ships.

Axel van Diemen is chosen as a pilot. Priviliged and talented, he is taken from his wife and family by the fortunes of war; isolated and estranged, he leads the assault on the colossal gen-ships that seek to destroy the Gaeia-world.... and pays a price.

Only thirteen pilots and ships survive, dying from the corrupted radiation of the gen-ships.

At the moment of death they are saved, harbored and healed by the Gaeia-world; and shown the way to destroy man's enemy once and for all. In anger, the survivors fall upon the world of the horde, destroying the religious symbols of a race. A genocide of sorts, for which they are reviled and persecuted by their own people when they return.

There is another legacy of the Gaeia-world that sets Axel and his friends apart; to cure them, their ageing process has been stopped. This fact sets society against them, and leads to a confrontation where the surviving bio-ships and their pilots oppose the might of the reich... a stand-off is reached that must be resolved if the fledgling reich is to survive.

A way is negotiated for Axel and his fellow survivors to lead the way into the future; they will seek a way to cross the galactic gulf to the Milky Way and find the original home of man....

they will become symbols of the path to the future.

Book Two - Earthfinder

Generations after the end of the war, Axel and his fellow survivors stand upon the threshold of crossing the gulf. Everyone they grew up with, loved ones, family and friends, are long dead. They are saved from loneliness and bitterness by the personas created for them by the Gaeia-world, personas designed to help them cope with the reality of long life.

Earth, meanwhile, has not fared well. The early dreams of expansion into the stars was halted when Earth met the H'rrem Sphere of Influence and fought two bloody wars to remain independent. They failed, and survive as poor relations in a confederation of four races, dominated by the war-like H'rrem. Technology has stagnated and the Earth and its few colony worlds are plundered of resources; yet resentment still burns strong in the human psyche... it only needs to be supported and directed.

Axel arrives on Earth during a period when the Sphere of Influence is under pressure from an unknown group outside the known stars; a group that probes the H'rrem and allied worlds with nuisance raids that cause economic hardship. Earth is spared the attentions of these 'barbarians' and that fact causes resentment and division between the races. Pressure is put on Earth to support her allies just as Axel arrives. Now everyone can see that the 'barbarians' are human.

Axel forms an attachment with a woman who is a government minister, and the over-all plan of the reich is revealed to her. Their relationship precipitates an attempt on their lives and this results in a state of war between the reich and the Sphere. The reich wins. Earth is freed from the shackles and expects to take its place alongside the reich, but there are rules, and the reich demands a long period of re-adjustment to meet the standards it sets for membership. The long-term solution is now in the hands of Axel's friend, and when he leaves her, he does so unaware she is carrying his child.

Interval

The story resumes many generations later, on a new world near the now-defunct Sphere. The years of long life and loneliness have taken their toll on Axel. He craves the normal life and family he was denied so long ago. He has fallen in love with a long-distant relative of the child he left behind on Earth and determines to settle there with her. He works for her father under an assumed name.

The past catches up when one of his fellow survivors contacts him with a problem; a third friend is being held incommunicado and Axel is needed to help sort it out. This leads to the discovery by his wife-to-be of his charade and her resentment at his deception; reluctantly, she agrees to accompany Axel while he helps his friends.

A clandestine ethnic group on one of the old Earth-worlds has found a breakthrough in field technology and is using it to build up strength to break away from the reich; they have resented the imposition of the reich and want to be free to pursue their own destiny. Axel's friend has stumbled upon one aspect of their enterprise and they have held him, uncertain how to deal with him due to the enormous power and prestige Axel and his friends represent .

Axel frees his friend and tracks down the source of the problem; in the process he is almost killed by an assassin's bullet. He calls upon the resources of his group and together they destroy the people responsible. The new technology is incorporated into the mainstream and the offending planet proscribed.

The Gaeia-world reacts against Axel's plea for a normal life, no matter how brief, and offers his partner the option of long life... to share the future together. She accepts.

Book Three - Crusade

The reich has coalesced over the ages; a myriad of stars in the Orion and Sagittarius arms of the Milky Way and the Larger Magellanic Cloud are at peace and have been for millenia. Massive trans-mat portals link the human and non-human worlds in a mosaic of peace and prosperity. The memory of a protective military has long since faded as automatics patrol the boundaries of man's domain.

Far into the inner stars of the Milky Way, across the great divide between the main spiral arms, a vast, ancient empire seeks room for the races it controls. It looks outward to the stars of man and covets them, and crosses the divide to take them. There is no resistance, only a few people to bring word to the central worlds.

One such group meets such skepticism that it invokes the ancient right of all citizens and calls for the Guardians to intercede. This almost mythical group is in reality the business group that Axel put together in the early years to trail-blaze for the new reich. Axel's son answers the call and it is his report that galvanises Axel and the others into action.

Axel embarks on a series of scouting missions using his old bio-ship, while his friends start the search for the moth-balled fleets that legend says are still in existence. His son, Gabriel, puts together a combat team by overlaying the stored memories of long-dead, experienced soldiers onto survivors of the onslaught. His probing raids along the front determine the structure of the enemy forces and in one raid he captures, or rather, saves, the key operator in the control sequence of the bio-construct enemy troops. She is almost human, tall and black, and her people and humans share the same progenitor race.

The mental ability of the woman is revered by her people and her kind are considered holy by the enemy; their planet is isolated amid many other races and she does not know where it is. Gabriel realises the importance of finding and protecting this world, and while the others start to activate the long-lost fleets and the reich wakes up to the threat from across the divide, he begins his own journey of discovery.

The reich wakes from its slumber; the fleets are active and the legions are being rebuilt. Axel maps the caste-worlds of the enemy heirarchy and Gabriel probes the inner stars of an ancient empire to find the one world that harbors man's cousins. His once-captive is a powerful empath with abilities to read and alter emotions, she is a Caller among her people and the office is part religious, part shamanistic; great pride and honour is accorded those women that attain such high rank.

During the long months spent searching, Gabriel and the Caller become close; they eventually bond and fall in love. Callers only bond with one male, and that for life, and that is the emotional trigger that makes them fertile... and sexually active. When they eventually find the Caller's world, her position is compromised because of their relationship. Gabriel has to find a way to save her from her people and her people from his enemies.

He succeeds in both; he becomes accepted into the Caller's family by proving his love for her to the High Mother of her order, and he destroys an empire garrison that has been sent to kill all Callers and their families. He offers protection to her world while the reich rolls back the enemy and chases them back across the divide.

The reich is awake, vibrant and angry. Its enemy cowers at its feet. Axel has brought that anger and destroyed the token symbols of the enemies power, the fabled vermilion lawns kept only for the feet of the One Great Emperor. His friends have restructured the once-forgotten wehrmacht and the worlds of man resound to new things.... the slumber is over.

Gabriel sanctifies his bond with the Caller and unites two peoples. His progeny, and that of others who follow his lead, become the ancestors of those that tell the story to a young girl in that far-distant time.

Later, after a long passage of time, when all has been told and then forgotten in the march of history, there is one last journey for Axel.... from the end of things.... to something he never left. A gift from the Gaeia-world, a special payment....

.... for services rendered.