Systems In Chaos: Dissention

Author's intro!

INTRODUCTION - (This is the synopsis, not the Prologue - this is skippable.)

Welcome to the universe of Systems in Chaos! This is the first novel in the series; book one is entitled: Dissention. I hope you all enjoy reading it! You may see some familiar elements of the genre, but this is a story and universe of its own.

This is a space opera, with lots of action, romance, some nudity, adventure, conflict and darkness. 

 Chapters 1 & 2 Are a little information intensive, but after that it eases off.

**** SPOILERS**** 

This section is to give you a rundown of a bit of what is in store within the story - there are some minor spoilers of what's to come. 

**If you only want to read a 'blurb' of the story - head back to the table of contents!**

In this book the story follows several key characters, with several of them taking on ‘Point of View’ roles throughout the novel. In these instances the chapter, or section of a chapter, will be told with that particular character as the main focus, regardless if there are other main characters present in the chapter.

Systems in Chaos is a science fiction novel which will take the readers several centuries into the future, to the year 2543. During this time period humanity has expanded rapidly to the point of colonizing a handful of planets within their own home system as well as planets in nearby solar systems. During the years prior to the focused story humanity experienced a fracture of factions within its political and civil domain which resulted in two things; the formation of the relative peaceful merchant faction, the ‘Free Planets’, who own the Tau Ceti system; and the formation of the Hadi Empire, whom now own the Lalande 21185 System (simply referred to as the “Lalande System”).

The Hadi Empire are a breakaway faction of the Zeuti Guardians, an order of peacekeepers that regulate law and order in more intense situations that require more than police but less than military assistance. These Guardians are a group of individuals that can use special, naturally developed, powers acquired through recent evolutionary jumps.

In Systems in Chaos the story mainly focuses around a renegade Zeuti Guardian and his followers; Zeuti Lord Teran Artosis, Zeuti Lord Vrik Bane, Zeuti Lord Karem Narl, Zeuti Lord Baron Durr and Zeuti Learner Sura Kail. War has come to United Alliance space, instigated by the previously solitary Hadi Empire. Teran and his companions abandoned their Order to aid the planets which have been attacked and to help the United Alliance fight back when the Zeuti Guardian Order issued orders for its members not join in the fight.

The storyline follows Teran and company through a mission given to them by the Queen of the planet they are aiding. A mission to find and retrieve her captured bastard (and illegitimate) daughter from a pair of extremely powerful Hadi Lords, Dalen Kurr and Jore Ses (two of the Hadi’s The Ten).

Throughout the novel the storyline splinters into different paths. One focusing on Teran and his friends and a second focusing on the Commander and Vice-Commander of the resistance camp Teran and the other zeuti serve in. After Teran leaves the camp is attacked, and while they are able to successfully distract the enemy long enough for their men to escape Commander Vladimir Struganov and Lieutenant-Commander Garen Core are left to fend for themselves in the jungle of the planet Kalorin, injured and ill supplied.

As the story progresses Vladimir and Garen realise that there is more to war than fighting and killing the enemy. They are tested in their own ways in the areas of loyalty, trust, sacrifice and brotherhood. This is put to the test with the introduction of the character Keimi Nist, a bounty hunter and insurgence agent for the Hadi.

Also, the story of the war on the planet Kalorin and the mission for Teran to rescue the princess Klair Hart and her handmaiden Gaia is just a backdrop for the more intimate character stories. Teran has experienced a lot of loss in his life, as short as it has been so far, and is having trouble dealing with the emotional and mental scars such loss has left him. He has a split personality as a result. Prior to this story his second self has remained in his subconscious and hidden from him, though later he realises that it has been influencing him for much longer than he thought. His conscious self is the ‘real’ Teran; which is someone who is sarcastic, relaxed, confident and everything that soldiers could want in a leader; while his subconscious, the ‘Shadow’ in the back of his mind, is sarcastic, reckless, arrogant and violent. The Shadow is Teran’s raw instincts. He is his instincts to kill, to love, to hate and to survive.

Teran’s personal journey is about him trying to figure out who he really is, who the darkness in himself is and, if possible, to become whole again (and not have a split personality), or, failing that, to destroy the Shadow.

The third and final storyline that is followed in this novel focuses around Teran’s old mentor, Zeuti Titan and Fifth Seat, Galvin El’Finn. Galvin is one of the ten Zeuti Titans, whom are the Order’s leaders, councillors and the most powerful of them all. His storyline revolves around that of the war on a more galactic level rather than Teran’s and Vladimir’s local planetary focus. He regrets things in his past, about how he handled Teran and is trying to make up for it by trying to persuade the ten Titans to change their previous ruling and instead go to war with the Hadi. Through his quest to gather information that will help him achieve this he has to travel into the depths of the cities Khaal Garr and Bastion’s Fate on Europa (which also happens to be the planet where the Zeuti Guardians have their central citadel). While uncovering information he realises that there could be possible wrongs in the way his Order deals with and brings up the young students; and also, that there are some hidden truths about the Zeuti Order that he was not meant to find out and regrets he did.