Afterward
Well, here we are.
You’ve reached the end of
All Our Sins Remembered, the ninth major installment in the Stormbreaker Universe. Whether this is your first time reading one of my stories, or your fifth, or your tenth: thank you for reading. You, dear readers, are the reason this project is so much fun for me, and why I keep coming back to share more and more of the fantasies my sister and I dreamed up almost a decade and a half ago.
This is the third Stormbreaker Universe story I’ve completed since the original Trilogy ended on this day one year ago. It took me three full years to write
After Everything, Faith in Chaos, and
The Stormbreakers… and now three more written entries, plus multiple side-stories and two whole Youtube series have been released in just one-third of the time. I think it’s safe to say that the epic universe I’ve crafted has reached its high-water mark.
But that means I now have to quote a line from one of my all-time favorite movies,
The Matrix Revolutions:
“Everything that has a beginning has an end.”
After all the writing, recording, and posting I’ve done over the past four (almost five) years, I’ve reached a point where the vast majority of the universe, events, places, and characters I created during my middle school days are now preserved in this series, albeit with a layer of Stellaris overtop of it all that previously did not exist. And now we’ve reached a point where I can only bring one more major story to you. Once this next installment is complete, there simply won’t be enough untapped materiel left in my personal universe for another book. The wellspring of ideas is finally about to run dry.
The Last Heroes will be my final foray into the Stormbreaker Universe, and I promise you all:
you are in for an epic ride.
But you will have to wait for a while, as I need to take a short break. I apologize for making you all wait, but
All Our Sins Remembered was by far and away the most difficult story to write and it caused me a great deal of stress. I’m not burned out yet, but this story has left me feeling worn out and I just need to catch my breath. Writing a prequel of this scale, predating the entire series, was a mental exercise that took much more out of me than I was counting on. So a hiatus is in order.
But by now, I’m sure most readers know me well enough to remember that I won’t just leave you hanging for the next few months. I love dropping hints and leads and sneak peeks at my next project. Honestly, I’m trying to encourage and foment guesswork and theorycrafting amongst the readers. It used to be a common occurrence back in the days of
Faith in Chaos and I loved every moment when someone tried to guess where the plot was going.
As we stand here, one year to the day since my (happily) failed attempt to end this series, I am more than happy to give you all an extended preview of what will be the genuine, irreversible, and grandest possible finale to the Stormbreaker Universe!
Enjoy the preview and I’ll see you when the time comes.
“Mark it in the history books. This is the end of an era for mankind. Even after we've defeated the remaining aliens, what then? Have we sacrificed our own humanity for a taste of their technology? And if we manage to exploit this power further, do we risk being consumed by it... presumably, just as they were? Will we see a line in the sand and refuse to cross it? Or will we move forward, willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of total victory? I have to believe that is not our future. Provided, of course, that the aliens' technology remains in the right hands.”
Doctor Raymond Shen, XCOM Chief Engineer, 2015
THE LAST HEROES
A STELLARIS STORY
Prologue: A Parting of the Ways
November 9, 2085
Bannack, Montana
A foreboding chill settled over the mountains of western Montana. It was early morning, and the sun wasn’t going to rise for a few more hours. The only movement was in the sky, where a shiny point of light grew brighter as it approached. With a roar of engines, the flying object arrived on the scene.
The supermodern spaceplane throttled down its engines and began to fly in lower and lower circles above a valley where Grasshopper Creek wound its way between two hills. There was no sign of civilization below, save for a simple dirt road that wound and twisted in an effort to follow the water. Much like the rest of the region, the surrounding hills were devoid of forest. Patchy groves and thickets of trees presented themselves here or there, but none were in a place that could have impeded a landing.
Two sets of vertical landing thrusters brought the spaceplane down to a pinpoint landing atop one of these bald hills. The boarding ramp barely finished lowering into place before a blonde-haired man raced away from the ship.
The man charged down the hill and came into Bannack, a ghost town that had gone without inhabitants for over a hundred years by this point. While many of the structures were crumbled into ruin, a single building remained in what could be passed off as “decent shape.” It was the entrance to one of the many mines that were bored into the hills surrounding the town.
But this was not one of the gold mines Bannack was founded for. The structure was newer, made from reinforced concrete, and the heavy steel door was painted with a round insignia that depicted a white five-pointed star rising above the continental United States. Underneath the insignia were the faded words:
“WARNING: RESTRICTED AREA
US ARMY INSTALLATION
DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM
THE DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF STRATEGIC EMERGENCY COMMAND
Posted by Executive Order of John Kennedy, President of the United States, October 3, 1962”
The man pushed the door open. Inside, he found a well-lit and well-maintained corridor that led deeper into the mine. Along the walls were more warning signs, these even more foreboding than the first.
“Danger! Element 115 is highly unstable.” One sign read. “Radiation protection required beyond this point.”
Ignoring all of these, the man pressed on, moving quickly down the corridor until they came to a reinforced steel door. He slid a keycard into a slot, where a green light illuminated before the door opened on its own. A computerized voice said:
“Welcome back, Emanuel Espinosa.”
Professor Espinosa stepped into the next chamber. It was an underground research facility, fully staffed with dozens of workers and furnished with the latest in modern technology. The facility itself was carved right into the walls of what had once been an Elerium mine. A researcher waved in greeting to the Professor and asked why he was making an unexpected appearance.
“Where’s my wife?” Professor Espinosa spoke in a way that suggested he was not here to show his spouse any affection.
Sensing the rising anger in the Professor’s voice, the researcher replied:
“She’s in surgery room number fifteen. You should know-”
But the professor didn’t wait. He took off at a run towards a hallway on his left. Soon, he was in the “Experimental Surgery” section of the facility. Doctors and scientists, dressed up in medical scrubs, moved from one operating theatre to the next, while other researchers sequestered themselves in decontamination chambers. Someone tried to stop Professor Espinosa and make him put on gloves and a mask, but he shoved them aside and shouted:
“Scarlett! You need to stop this, right now!”
He found the door labelled with the number “15” and forced it open, causing the people inside to cry out in surprise. A surgeon pointed to one of his assistants and barked an order:
“Sedate her, quickly!”
In the middle of the operating theatre a small child, dressed in a hospital gown, was sitting upright in a chair, surrounded by complex devices and machinery. A sterile sheet was draped over the back of her head, while thick leather straps were bound around the little girl’s chest, arms and legs, keeping her immobile. On the surgeon’s command, another man injected the girl’s arm with a syringe. The child took a deep breath and closed her eyes before passing out.
Seeing this caused Emanuel a lot of distress. He balled up his fists and stepped into the operating theatre, where he was immediately confronted by a nurse.
“Sir! Sir, you can’t come in here! You’re not clean!”
“Good!” Emanuel replied. “This procedure needs to be stopped!”
The professor shoved the nurse out of the way and began to menacingly approach the lead surgeon, who raised his hands and said:
“Wait, Professor! We haven’t started yet!”
“Then release her, now!”
At the same time, an alarm was raised. Two security guards entered the room behind the professor, armed with stun batons. Moving quickly, Emanuel reached into his coat, drew a gauss pistol and took aim at the guards, who withdrew a few paces.
“Back up!” Emanuel shouted. “This atrocity will not continue, and I’ll wipe out anyone who tries to stop me!”
Behind him, the alarmed medical staff quickly undid the straps and pulled the unconscious girl out of the chair. Her long black hair fell down to her waist like a cape. With one hand the Professor grabbed the unconscious girl and pulled her up until she was draped over his shoulders. Keeping his pistol-hand raised, Emanuel started to depart the same way he came in, but he didn’t get very far. Behind him, a doorway on the far side of the operating theatre swung open and three people stormed into the room:
Rafi Bakir, an Arab man, wore a military uniform and was brandishing a laser rifle.
David Sepulveda, a Mexican American, wore a crisp black suit and tie with matching sunglasses.
Finally, following them into the room was Scarlett Freeman herself. The professor’s wife was also dressed in business attire. But unlike her comrades, she was unarmed. Scarlett took one look around the scene before locking eyes with her husband. Like the girl draped over her husband's shoulders, Scarlett also had long black hair.
“What the hell is the meaning of all this?” She demanded. “What are you doing? Put her down!”
“No.” Emanuel spoke in a voice full of contempt. “You’ve tormented this child and others like her for far too long. I’m putting an end to all of this!”
The Professor kept his weapon aimed towards Rafi Bakir, but his gaze never left Scarlett’s face. Her expression softened and she tried to put on a forgiving tone of voice.
“My love, maybe you don’t fully understand the work we’re doing here, perhaps-"
“Oh, shut up!” The Professor spat at his wife. “Don’t you get it!? I’m doing this because I do understand! You’re going to finish what the old regime started fifty years ago, and I’m going to spare Humanity the anguish of reliving a nightmare that should have been forgotten!”
Emanuel turned to aim his pistol directly at Scarlett’s heart. Rafi and David both raised their weapons but Scarlett waved them off. She returned her husband’s cold stare and deftly replied:
“Shoot me and you’ll set Humanity back fifty years, but you won’t stop it. Put down the gun, my love, and all will be forgiven.”
Emanuel cocked the hammer.
“You lost the right to call me “love" a long time ago, monster.”
The Gauss pistol went off with the sound of a cannon! The metal slug crossed the distance between husband and wife with hypersonic speed, and then it raced back the way it came with equal power. Before he could even comprehend what happened, Professor Espinosa was shot with his own bullet! He collapsed to the floor, dropping both his weapon and the girl, while blood dripped from a wound in his lower abdomen.
Wracked in pain and agony, Emanuel was barely aware of two sets of hands grabbing him and lifting him into the air. After a painful but short journey, the Professor was literally thrown out the laboratory entrance and back into the Montana wilderness. Coming to rest on his face, the professor rose to his knees and looked up at the trio who had just ejected him. Scarlett, Rafi, and David all gave him looks of genuine disdain. Clutching his wound, Emanuel spit at them.
“You won’t get away with this.” He seethed.
“Oh, please.” Scarlett scoffed. “I already have. You’ve seen it for yourself, the government, and the military. Everyone’s in my corner now.”
“I don’t mean them!” Emanuel raged. “Mortal men can judge you however they want… but when She learns what you’ve done…”
Emanuel rose to his feet, he had found new strength as he prepared to invoke the name of the savior. It was like her power gave Emanuel the last ounce of willpower he needed to see this through. He pointed to his wife with one bloody hand and cried out for all of the dark world to hear:
“THE HAND OF JERICHO WILL BE HEAVY UPON YOU!! SHE WILL RISE UP AND SMITE YOU!”
“Then I’ll start the smiting!” Scarlett shrieked.
She grabbed for the weapon in Rafi's hand, and at the same moment, Emanuel turned and fled. Behind him, the chatter of laser fire was accompanied by the frightening thuds, pops, and snaps of laser bolts sailing over the Professor’s head! Clutching his bloody wound, Emanuel staggered away from the scene and into the darkness.
With a great roar of engines, the spaceplane he arrived on flew low over the ground, raking the landscape with its floodlights and opening its boarding ramp. Both of Scarlett’s companions gestured to the spacecraft, but she shook her head.
“Don’t worry about him. Let him go.” She said. “Before too long, he’ll be irrelevant.”