OMEGA Exile Read online



  OMEGA

  (Vol. 1)

  Exile

  By

  Stephen Arseneault

  Published By:

  Stephen Arseneault

  Copyright © 2014-2017 Stephen Arseneault

  “When societal life becomes too easy, morals are often cast aside. Moral decay leads to corruption, which sets even the best-intentioned of societies on a path that is a downward spiral toward destruction. If ignored, depravity and chaos will eventually rule the day. Only when defenders of freedom and right stand firm can the trend be broken. Take a stand and be counted amongst the free, for chaos is not all fun and games!”

  S.A.

  View the author's website at www.arsenex.com

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  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law, or in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Books written by Stephen Arseneault

  SODIUM Series

  A six-book series that takes Man from his first encounter with aliens all the way to a fight for our all-out survival. Do we have what it takes to rule the galaxy?

  AMP Series

  Cast a thousand years into the future beyond SODIUM. This eight-book series chronicles the struggles of Don Grange, a simple package deliveryman, who is thrust into an unimaginable role in the fight against our enemies. Can we win peace and freedom after a thousand years of war?

  OMEGA Series

  Cast a thousand years into the future beyond AMP. The Alliance is crumbling. When corruption and politics threaten to throw the allied galaxies into chaos, Knog Beutcher gets caught in the middle. Follow along as our hero is thrust into roles that he never expected or sought. Espionage, intrigue, political assassinations, rebellions and full-on revolutions, they are all coming to Knog Beutcher's world!

  HADRON Series

  HADRON is a modern day story unrelated to the SODIUM-AMP-OMEGA trilogy series. After scientists using the Large Hadron Collider discover dark matter, the world is plunged into chaos. Massive waves of electromagnetic interference take out all grid power and forms of communication the world over. Cities go dark, food and water supplies are quickly used up, and marauders rule the highways. Months after the mayhem begins, and mass starvation has taken its toll, a benevolent alien species arrives from the stars. Only, are they really so benevolent? Find out in HADRON as Man faces his first real challenge to his dominance of Earth!

  Find them all at www.arsenex.com

  Chapter 1

  _______________________

  For two thousand years, the Human-run empire known as the Alliance of Major Planets (AMP) brought peace and stability to the five galaxies surrounding the Milky Way. Advances in technology, and a strong set of fair laws, had allowed a peaceful expansion of Human ideals. Man’s influence had reigned supreme, trade had flourished, and all species had taken benefit.

  The great expansion of Man followed the defeat of an android overlord who had ruled those galaxies for hundreds of thousands of years. Peace and freedom were Man’s legacy to the stars.

  At its peak, membership in AMP totaled more than two trillion citizens. Those citizens occupied twelve hundred established planets, ninety-eight hundred lesser colonies, and eight hundred massive security stations, all linked by wormhole portals allowing immediate and unlimited personal travel between them.

  Life in the AMP had been easy. No citizen had struggled for work, shelter, food, or care. Entertainment of the masses had become king, and with that crown came a population that was all too eager to accept those who pushed the boundaries of societal norms. As morals declined, corruption settled in at the highest levels of government.

  For years, the governors of the wealthiest, most prominent planets had placed their cronies on the Council of Governance, the governing body responsible for making the law. The citizenry had gone about their daily happy lives, never realizing their rights and freedoms were being stripped away at a slow and steady pace.

  That all changed when a powerful group of governors pushed aside a weak Council of Governance and established their own alliance, putting in place a new code of laws. As the pace of local restrictions had quickened, economies faltered. Riots and uprisings became commonplace. The once-idyllic empire was now ruled by a dozen powerful families who's only goals were further consolidation of power and self enrichment. Life in the AMP had changed for the common citizen, and it was in no way for the better.

  For a decade, existence in the Omega sector had been plagued with the occasional disappearance of entire colonies. Investigations had been rushed, and the demise of the citizenry involved brushed aside as “a mystery.” Life and survival in the outermost sector of the Triangulum galaxy had become anything but easy.

  In the ultra-wealthy Alpha sector, Omega was commonly joked about as a point of exile for any who butted heads with those in powerful places. After several high-profile exiles, the joke had become less funny.

  Knog Beutcher, three-star veteran detective, a man of honor and integrity, struggled to balance what was right and fair with what would keep him employed at his prestigious Alpha sector job. His struggles had only just begun.