The Legacy (Shadow Core - Book 1)

By: Licinio Goncalves

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Thousands of years have passed since humanity first broke free from the shackles of gravity and finally reached for the stars in search of its destiny. The journey into the future was perilous and challenging, but the rewards were beyond compare: Light speed is no longer a limit, AIs are no longer a dream and – for some – death is no longer the end! However, this is not an historical archive, so let us fast forward through the timeline: We move past the early colonial days, when humanity first dared to reach for the stars; past the age of discovery, when the secrets of interstellar travel were finally revealed and the BURST drive began to propel ships across the Galaxy at unimaginable speeds; past the Golden Age of exploration that saw unrivalled prosperity elevate humanity to its Apex, and its inevitable fall from grace due to the greed of the Core Systems; and past a dark era of persecution and betrayal, when civilisation turned upon its “children” and was nearly destroyed for its arrogance and pride.

This is where our story begins…
Nearly a century has passed since the last major battle of the Interstellar Unification War; a devastating event that should have been little more than an insignificant skirmish, a footnote in history and an easy victory for the Earth forces. And yet, the crippling attack left behind the shattered fragments of the Solarian Union’s Second Fleet, the lifeless hulls of a civilian convoy and countless questions about who, or what, could have been responsible for such an atrocity.
The history books lay bare, the past wiped from existence by those too afraid to remember their sins, folly and shame. But the past refuses to be completely erased, for the conflict disrupted the very fabric of space and created the Dead Zone, a hazardous region that may hold the only records of what really happened so long ago: the betrayal, the theft and the massacre which awakened a power that could not be contained.

Deep within the Dead Zone, an ancient ‘derelict’ dreadnaught of unimaginable destructive power drifts silently through the void, hidden away at the heart of the old anomaly.
The saga begins as Kade – a smuggler from the fringe colonies – excitedly steps aboard the four-kilometre-long ship from the mythical human faction rumoured to have once stood against the avarice of the Solar System.
Bound by an old promise to seek out the fabled vessel, Kade’s destiny is forever altered when she meets the sole ‘human’ crew member that calls the ship home.

What secrets does the 'derelict' hold?
And why does the Union seek to destroy it?