Patterns of Chaos: Book One - The First War
Epilogue

It glided through space at sublight speed; they had run out of fuel for the FTL engine at the edge of the star system, but that was all right. It gave him time to survey his new domain. Telemetry had shown that the fourth planet might be habitable, but there was no rush. And if it were already inhabited, well, there was no Jennifer Safyo to interfere this time. He was born to conquer. To rule.

The children were key, of course. He had already determined which were the strongest, the most capable of joining his envisioned new force: Neuromancers. Elite psionic warriors that would be his spearhead.

Behind him, he heard Callixta stirring. She was staring at the passing worlds with wonder. “They’re beautiful…,” she breathed.

“Several moons of that gas giant,” he pointed at a world cloaked in shades of purple “are habitable. Oxygen content is a little higher than we are used to, but fully breathable.”

She nodded. “How long before we go back?”

“Not until I have a fleet of mighty vessels capable of taking Earth and holding it.” His eyes narrowed. “No more than two hundred years, I promise you that.”

The fourth planet began to appear on screen, familiar in its blues, greens, and browns; different in the shape of its landmasses.

“And if they come after us first?”

Paul Stragdoc, the first Psi-Omegan Emperor grinned.

A grin that spoke volumes.

January 2016-June 2017