BOOK EIGHTEEN
THE BOOK OF
THE
VOICE OF THE CHILDREN
Chapter One
In the 9,095th Year From The Beginning three ships of The Republic sat
on the edge of a barren system. They had come there hoping to find some
of the materials they needed. But the system had only three planets
close in to the sun, two
of which were a little more than barren moons. The other had an
atmosphere so corrosive that their ships would melt in it in minutes if
their shields should fail.
2 Those on the ships were disappointed. Each of the war vessels were
heavily laden, carrying two more passenger pods than they had been
designed for.
3 The greatest of these vessels was The Morning Star, the same
battleship that had been first commanded by Northern Star many years
before. Her Glukan hull now carried several metallic patches where she
had suffered battle damage in this long and bitter war. But she was
still the same, proud ship. With her were two other battleships made of
steel; The Great Mountain, and, The Vengeance Of The Lords.
4 Aboard The Morning Star another Northern Star sat in the command
chair, a descendant of the ship's first Commander. Behind him stood The
Voice Of The Children, First Speaker and overall Leader of their little
group. "Is long range communications picking up anything?" he asked
North.
5 North turned to his Communications Officer. "The Great Mountain
reports their receivers detect nothing, not even a flicker."
6 "I wish all three ships could repair their long range communications
equipment," complained The Voice.
7 "We barely had the parts to get that one receiver working," explained
North, "and we've had to sacrifice internal communications to keep our
ship to ship systems