Synopsys
Earth’s first colony ship, which was totally unprepared for its interstellar journey, vanished without a trace. After searching for almost a decade with no luck, the new world’s government finally sends a search and rescue fleet to find the lost souls. But are they prepared for what they might find?
Evan Daxton and Sofia Gert are reassigned to one of the fleet's Destroyer vessels, The Bodhi, but all is not what it seems. Hidden danger lurks in their journey to Proxima Centauri, tracing the last known location of the colony. The crew faces first contact with an alien race, a challenge nobody is prepared for, casting fear into the stricken crew. Uncovering truths about past events and international conspiracies throws their lives further into turmoil. Is there anybody they can trust in this futuristic sci-fi thriller?
With new technology in their hands, will the newly developed Phoenix help Evan and Sofia on their mission to uncover the truth, or will it be the downfall of all Mankind?
Prologue
December 27th, 2025 8:14 AM.
The atmosphere in the unit was ghostly, a distant, low-frequency, humming accompanied by the slow and rhythmic water dripping.
Drip.
Drip.
Kenny Moss reads the Work Order from Stoney Industrial Lettings again.
“Force Entry to Unit 114, Itemise Assets, Secure Unit.”
Stoney manages the North Eastern Industrial Complex, with 250 industrial units spanning from 2,000 square metres to 250,000 square metres, everything from small sole trader printers to large corporation production lines.
Kenny has read this order six times. The first time he read it something didn't feel right, and as he stepped inside the unit, that sinking feeling in his stomach returned, more intense than before.
Kenny knows little of Unit 114. Sure he knows the location and specifications, it's one of their smaller units, at 3000 square metres, one floor and high ceilings, located at the northwest corner. However, his team last entered the unit six years ago, they didn't need to. Leased by a small outfit, Enstry Technology Limited on a ten-year lease, Enstry has paid in full and on time, every quarter since they moved in six years ago. He's only ever seen a handful of engineers coming and going; they kept to themselves and rarely talked to anyone within the complex, not one visitor has ever registered. That was until six months ago when four 'Agents' visited the Unit. Agents was the term used by the new kid on his team. At the gate, instead of requesting their names or personal information, the kid allowed them entry solely based on their perceived similarity to government agents. Since then Enstry failed to make their due payments, answer or reply to phone calls, emails or letters and the Unit has been undisturbed.
The humming brings Kenny out of his thoughts. When Kenny leased the Unit, Enstry requested approval to build and amend the unit into two sections, one as a sterile work environment, steel workbenches, PPE storage, clinical white tile walls, the second half partitioned for some form of metal engineering production, very little detail was provided for this half. Whilst most of these fixtures remained, something was off. Across the laboratory workstations, a thin layer of fine dust had settled. And the partitioned wall, well, it looks like someone crashed a car through it, indoors and without damaging any external walls.
“Boss, I'm not sure what we're supposed to Itemise here, between the empty workstations and half burnt, half scattered paper…” Jones said, contemplating his next words.
Kenny leans down to pick up one of the few pieces of paper remaining, it’s slightly charred, but he can still make out:
“June 3rd 2025
Office of Chief Engineer Dr Staas Bart, Enstry Tech.
Re: Warp”
“It's, it's like they disappeared!"
THE PHOENIX COMING SOON
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