First Crisis
Demonstration of power. We need to see what Nolan is up against. He needs to brawl with the Ganog Hunter, and narrowly escape. Then we need to see the Saurian begin to hunt him.
Nolan wants to repair the ship. Hunter knows that they will likely attempt to do this, and is watching the most common chop shops. They ambush Nolan. Burke says ‘I told you not to trust the alien’. By the end Burke will be friends with the Ganog, and far less Xenophobic. Before reaching that point, Burke will blame Nolan...

Repair the Ship
Nolan leads an expedition to one of the other crash sites to get the materials to repair their ship. Krekon has a team waiting, commanded by his Saurian. Nolan is forced to fall back, and Edwards is severely damaged during the escape. Other mechs take damage, and they use irreplaceable material.

Move Out
Nolan and company move out the second the storm ends, taking their mechs into the abandoned section of the city. The buildings are even more decayed, but their iron content will throw off scanners. This gives them a place to set up base camp while they try to figure out what to do next.

Rust Storm
They have to batten down the hatches for a rust storm, which is the best thing that could have happened. The iron in the rust will block all scanners, preventing the enemy from searching for them. They’ll be safe, if they can survive the storm. It hurls about car sized hunks of stone and metal, and during the scene at least one massive hunk will punch into the ship. They’ll have to respond to the crisis.
We’ll get to see Ganog Rebel shine. He’ll tell them about rust storms, and about being hunte...

Nolan's reactions
Nolan and company have their ‘now what’ moment. They need to figure out what to do next. They’re trapped on world, their ship unable to break orbit without repairs. Does Ganog Rebel know of a way to fix the ship? Something that can go catastrophically wrong? Hunter would think to watch any vendor capable of selling parts for repairs.
This can be the first stage of the cat and mouse. This is also the first chance to slow down and catch our breath. We get a little development, a little conversatio...

Avoid the Locals
Nolan parks the Peregrine in an alien jungle not far from the library. The squad unloads their mechs and sets up a safe LZ, then Nolan and the squad use stealth suits to head into the market. Lena goes with them. They identify at least six different species, all bartering inside at a crude market. The transponder signals are coming from a low squat building.
The other teams move into place, with Burke’s squad near Nolan’s. Tension is thick between them as they continue to scout. Nolan orders Bur...

Kidnapped
Squad leader Burke and his boss capture a Ganog without authorization. They’ve administered Fox P2 treatment developed by the Primo, so they can understand / speak to the Ganog. Nolan is pissed, not because of the actions, but because of the breach in protocol. It isn’t the first time this has happened.
Technically he didn’t order Burke not to do it, but Burke should have asked first.

Interogation
They learn the creature’s language and briefly interrogate him about the planet. It’s a haven for smugglers. His race is called the Ganog. They rule the surrounding stars. He doesn’t know anything about any captured troops, but they could be held in a secure facility controlled by the Ganog fleet. Ganog are famous for torture stations where they break people, and the building Nolan shows him is known to be one.
Nolan apologizes for kidnapping the Ganog and explains he’ll be released when they le...

Report
Major Nolan reports his findings to Fizgig about the Ganog empire. They look like brutal conquerers, and could be one hell of a problem. Fizgig authorizes the raid.
Burke is pleased. He likes the fast, direct route. Nolan doesn’t, because that route gets people killed. He quickly and efficiently relays orders to the other captains.

Raid
They surround the facility, fanning out with mechs. Nolan runs the battle, having his forces move in. The Ganog put up fierce resistance, pushing Nolan’s forces back. Then a planet strider stands up and begin assaulting Nolan’s forces. It’s first salvo takes out a captain and his ship. Back to the ships! Full retreat. It’s an ambush.

Shot Down
Nolan is the last ship into the air, and thus the last to be attacked. He sees the others destroyed, and flees back into the tree line. He is able to lose the pursuit, but the ship is severely damaged in the process. Plus, their enemies will know roughly where the ship set down. They need to get what they can and get out. They’ll hide the ship as best they can, but its very possible the enemy will find it.
Nolan is shot down. They manage to land the ship and cloak, but suffer severe damage. They...

Meetings
Nolan’s Frigate detaches from Fizgig’s dreadnought. He and all three other teams are dropping into orbit over an inhabited world. This is the last world with a helios gate, the very furthest edge of the original primo empire. There are signals coming from the world. Its inhabited.
There is also a cluster of ships orbiting the world, too small to be a real fleet. It looks like merchants and freighters, of a variety of types. It looks like many different tech levels.
Fizgig orders all four captain...

Prologue
Takkar swept into the stasis chamber, raising a hand to the trio of saurian slaveguards. They moved efficiently from the chamber, leaving Takkar alone with the prisoner. She hovered near the center of the room, suspended by the translucent red bonds around her wrists and ankles. He was moderately surprised by her defiant glare, something he’d not seen from an enemy in a long time.
“Techsmith,” Takkar bellowed, scowling back at the door. The green-scaled saurian scurried into the room, clutching...

Ganog 7
“Exiting the sun’s corona, Captain,” Kay’s warm holographic voice emanated from the speakers on either side of the captain’s chair. Nolan nodded absently, rising to his feet.
He crossed the bridge in three steps, staring out the viewport. Pillars of superheated nuclear material towered over their tiny vessel, bathing them in its hellish fury. The sleek corvette threaded a path, dodging a collapsing solar tendril as they used the sun’s own gravitational force to fuel their escape. Beyond the sun ...

Planetfall
Nolan much preferred planetary re-entry from the command chair, where he had some influence on the outcome. Being inside a mech made him little more than a passenger, and if anything happened to them there’d be absolutely nothing he could do to help.
“We’ve hit the outer atmosphere, Captain,” Kay’s voice came over the comm. It amazed him how well the machine captured the real Kathryn. “I’ve compiled scan data into usable metrics.”
“Give me the short version. What are we looking at?” Nolan asked....

Warp Gate
Fizgig massaged her thigh, shifting atop the cushions to minimize the pain. The arthritis wasn’t crippling, but it was certainly irritating. She’d hoped that the war with the Gorthians had been her last, but there simply weren’t enough experienced pride leaders to guide her people. If they were to survive, they needed time to raise another generation. That meant her work wasn’t done yet.
“What kind of traffic are we seeing in the system?” Fizgig demanded. She rose from her chair, moving to stand...

Assault
Red sand whirled and eddied around the mech’s canopy, hiding everything except for the looming shadows of the towering buildings. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the storm died. The wind fell away, and the sand settled.
The sky brightened, giving him his first real look at the city around him. It suddenly made sense why the spires all had that blasted look. They’d been exposed to these winds for centuries, slowly carving them away. It must have been centuries since this place had been po...

Planetstrider
“Annie, give me a sitrep.” Nolan guided his mech back the way they’d come, massive strides eating up the distance to the park where they’d parked the ships.
“There’s a giant Godzilla looking thing that looks a tad pissed off. It’s kinda eying the ships like it don’t like em too much.” Annie’s voice quavered. “Sir, if you can get back here quickly I’d appreciate it.”
Nolan glanced out the view port. The monstrosity took a step toward them, triggering another quake. Nolan stumbled to one knee, cat...

Invasion
“Admiral, we’re picking up a massive energy surge from the station,” the human tech called.
“Magnify,” she ordered. The view screen zoomed in to show the spider-like station. The light between the ‘fingers’ was growing by the moment, a sharp purple with blazing white at the center.
Space ruptured and tore, a hole appearing between the fingers. Ships began to emerge through that hole, dozens of them. Most were smaller cruisers, backed by something that looked destroyer class. Behind them came mu...

Khar
“Yes, Mighty Fizgig,” Khar boomed into the comm. His synthetic voice was nearly identical to the one he’d been born with, just one more well-crafted detail the designers had thought of.
“It’s Admiral now, Khar. We are in a new military.” Fizgig’s scolding held no real heat.
“We are still Tigris, and you will always be the mightiest of us.” Khar boomed out a laugh, weaving past an enemy turret. He loosed a single missile, angling the detonation so the shrapnel from the turret’s destruction sever...

Shot Down
The Peregrine zipped between buildings, dodging a hail of plasma from the pursuing fighters.
“Captain,” Kay spoke from the cockpit speakers. “I’ve established a connection to the flag ship. Admiral is on the line.”
“Admiral, this is Captain Nolan. Things are bad down here.” His stomach lurched as Kay guided the ship into a tight dive, she came up short as the planetstrider fired again.
The city block they’d been angling for ceased to exist, a billowing cloud of flame expanding around them. He c...

First Gateway
Fizgig studied the view screen, watching as the enemy fleet moved to encircle hers. They were stronger, more numerous, and on their own territory. They held every advantage.
Yet such things were not new to Fizgig. At every turn the Void Wraith had outnumbered and outgunned them, yet in the end Tigris ingenuity had won them that war. The humans had helped too, of course, but it had been a Tigris paw that had delivered the killing shot to the giant floating eye.
“Order the fleet to cluster as clos...

Enemy Reactions
Takkar’s fur blackened. He paced the length of the royal balcony, the full majesty of his dreadnaught stretching before him. Each level larger than the last, terracing all the way down to the ka’tok levels. Above lay a sea of stars, broken by the red-orange glow of the planet below.
That majesty usually calmed him, but nothing would still his ire. He crooked a finger and the saurian tech approached, datapad held as a talisman to ward his rage. “How long until their ships are too close to the su...

Annie
Annie awakened by degrees. Her head throbbed in time with her heartbeat, and it was dark. She tried to move, groggily realizing she was still strapped into her mech. “Must have gone on standby. How long have I bet out?”
She keyed the activation code using the right gauntlet, and the engine rumbled reluctantly to life. Her screen flickered, then lit. A spider web of cracks radiated from the bottom corner, turning the graphs there into multicolored mush.
The paper doll representing the mech showed...

President Dryker
Fizgig settled wearily atop the cushions in her quarters, sigh heavily as she sank into the satin. She licked the fur behind her paw, and cleaned behind her ears. It calmed her, and she needed to be calm before confronting the President.
That concept was new to her, the idea of someone being elected to lead. Yet in this case she’d approved. Dryker had been a fine candidate, a hero who’d sacrificed more than anyone else in the war with the Gorthians.
She stopped grooming, heaving a reluctant sigh...

The Rust Settles
The wind howled, strong enough that it made each ponderous step an exercise in precision. Guiding the mechs was difficult enough without battling a 50kph headwind.
He peered through the dense rust, but couldn’t make out more than the vague shapes of the skeletal buildings on either side of the ancient street. “Kay, can you get me a fix on anything we might use for shelter?”
“Yes, captain. I’m working from the scans we took when we came in system, before the storm. There is a largely intact buil...

Recon
Nolan used his gauntlet to remove the pot from the makeshift stove, pouring soup into three cups. Hannan and Lena were still hunched over the holo unit, going over the footage they’d collected so far. He watched it out of the corner of his eye, carrying bowls to Hannan and then Lena.
“Thanks, Captain,” Hannan muttered, never looking away from the vid.
Lena nodded graciously, fishing a piece of chicken out using a claw. “This MRE is quite palatable, at least compared to what we were fed among th...

Market
Nolan adjusted his makeshift cloak, pulling the hood further over his helmet. They’d reached the first row of stalls marking the edge of the market. A thin trickle of aliens moved between them, haggling with shopkeepers in exactly the same way people did back in the slums of Earth.
He joined the flow of traffic, keeping his distance from a group of reptilian aliens who the others were clearly avoiding. He didn’t know if the red-scaled creatures were a gang, or part of the military ruling this wo...

Aluki & Annie
Nolan followed the hulking alien through the remains of the building, slipping through a hole in the far wall. He led them through a series of narrow alleys, quickly moving away from the area with the saurians.
T’kon didn’t speak, or even glance in their direction. He hurried along, ignoring the few aliens they passed. Those aliens carefully avoided looking at them, and Nolan sensed that they recognized T’kon, or at least the type of armor he wore. They were just a little too interested in anyth...

Mounds
“Nolan, wake up. I think you should see this.” Nolan tensed, reaching instinctively for his plasma pistol. T’kon loomed above him, wearing his full armor.
“I’m up, just give me a sec,” Nolan muttered. He rolled from his bedroll, stretching as he stood. “What is it?”
“Sir, we moving out?” Hannan asked, sitting up in her bedroll. She blinked past a yawn, brushing her hair from her face.
“Sounds like it. Wake Annie, and let her know she’ll be staying here with Lena.” Nolan buttoned on his jacket, ...

Burke
Burke peered through the crack in the wall. Had that been a flash of movement? He stared, unblinking, for long seconds. Nothing. He called softly over his shoulder, “What’s the ETA, Nuchik? You said we got everything you needed.”
“We did,” she snapped. “But this radio was designed to be mounted in a mech. Not affixed to a naked circuit board on the middle of a pile of debris. It’s going to take a minute, sir.” The last word tottered under the sarcasm. She heaved a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s j...

Signal
Nolan finished annotating the holo, noting his estimates about the speed and strength of the armored apes that had squared off against their mechs. That data would make its way back to Kathryn, eventually. He had no doubt that she and her people would find a way to exploit it.
Beep, beep, beep. His comm flashed the incoming transmission icon. Nolan accepted it, watching as the holo resolved into a familiar face.
“Is that Burke?” Hannan asked, giving up the pretense of sleeping. She walked over t...

Demonstration (first crisis)
Krekon stepped out the side of the transport, even as it glided toward the slum below. He landed in a crouch, his boots shattering rubble. He sniffed with all four nostrils, building a tapestry of scents. Saurian blood overpowered everything, yet he could pick out something unexpected.
Not these new races, he expected the pungent human, and the acrid Tigris. No, the unexpected scent was ganog. A warrior had been here, yet his body was not among the fallen.
The transport landed in a spray of gri...

Go to Ground
Nolan tightened his dirty cloak around him, hurrying down the alleyway. They were strung out in a ragged line, trying to avoid notice as they threaded through the edge of the market. None of them spoke, keeping their heads down until they finally reached Aluki’s shop.
Instead of circling around to the panel in the back, T’kon led them straight through the front door. More than one shopkeeper eyed them suspiciously, and Nolan had no doubt that word would soon reach the enemy that they’d been sigh...

On the Run?
Do we need a tense chapter showing Nolan reaching the safe point? The teams threading through the city, trying to reach safety? Maybe one of the teams is late? What would this chapter add to the story?

Warp
Nolan dropped his pack next to the foot of his mech, leaning against it as he gulped down greedy lungfuls of air. The rest of the squad was winded too, but neither alien seemed phased by the exertion in getting here so quickly.
Aluki was smiling happily, inspecting Edwards on the other side of the garage. T’kon stood next to Nolan, something like a shotgun resting against one shoulder.
The rest of the squad sat around Hannan’s mech, where the heater had been set up. Nolan should be over there t...

Frayed Nerves
Hannan emptied the contents of the soup packet into the pot, giving it a half hearted stir with her spoon. Normally Annie handled the meals, but she was lost in conversation with Aluki and Edwards. Their laughter was out of place, incongruous after the violence that had led them here.
Only Lena had stayed near the fire, but she was lost in her datapad, mumbling to herself. Hannan had grown used to that, and knew to let her have her space. Odds were good she’d pop up after a few hours, and given ...

The Resistance
T’kon flared his lower nostrils, drinking deeply of the garage’s cool air. It helped keep him calm, preventing his fur from spiking into green. These humans might not know what the color signified, but he didn’t want to give them cause to wonder.It was deadly difficult, the weight of what he’d just learned nearly crushing him to the deck.
They could produce cores. If he could learn that secret, and bring it back to the Azi clan…it would change everything. They’d lift his banishment, and elevate ...

Fizgig
“Admiral, I’ve got Senator Carnifex on the line,” the tech said.
Fizgig took a moment to groom an errant lock on her shoulder, putting off the call for as long as dared. She loathed politics more than she did getting wet.
“Put it on screen.” She blinked up at the large display, which resolved into a familiar Jaguara. His spotted fur gleamed, too lustrous for his age. “You’ve dyed your fur, Carnifex? I’d heard you’d gone soft, but I never imagined this.”
“Do not speak to bait me, Mighty Fizgig,”...

Takkar
Krekon labored under the rarest of emotions. Fear. It leaked into his fur, staining it yellow. He hated that fact, the knowledge that he had so little control that he couldn’t banish a simple emotion. Yet, the fear was justified.
He made his way slowly up the corridor, forcing a powerful stride. His saurians prowled about him in a pack, the best, most loyal of his remaining hounds. They seethed over the deaths of their companions, and he tried to stoke his anger off theirs. No avail.
Krekon sket...

<<< MARKER >>>

Midpoint
Nolan learns about the Fortress mechs, and realizes that he must get information both about them and about the warp capability to Fizgig. There’s no way she can create a battle plan without knowing about these pieces.
Nolan has also secured strong allies in the resistance, allies that will help them if there is an insurrection against the Ganog Empire. This is the reversal of fortune that mirrors the ending. Nolan is coming into his own. Burke has begun to respect him.



Annie and Aluki are abl...

New Tech
Fizgig inspects the construction of the new 11th fleet. She meets with Kathryn and Izzie, who are ten years older now.
What is the new fleet? What have they built to counter the enemy? Come up with a cool new ship, and some mech upgrades.

Second Crisis
Nolan needs to get word to Fizgig with everything he’s learned about the Ganog. If she assaults the world without understanding how their warp technology works, then they’ll be overwhelmed. Sending a quantum to her means decloaking the ship though. They transmit the message, and have the squad (plus their new allies) arrayed to ambush them.
They ambush the response squad, and Rebel’s people take possession of the enemy gear. During the raid, Nolan learns that there are three Fortress class mechs...

Fizgig
Fizgig reports to Dryker. The new 11th fleet is ready. She’ll meet them in the X system, and has his permission to hammer Ganog 7 with everything she can bring to bear.

Heart to Heart
Nolan and Hannan need to have a heart to heart about mills, and about Nuchik. Nolan wants to know what’s going on there, why Hannan is so hostile to Nuchik. It’s Mills, that’s why. Mills and her casual racism. The Tigris fought and died alongside them, but Nuchik treats Lena like trash.
Nolan understands. He points out that Mills hated Tigris too, but that he came around. Nuchik will too, if they give her time.

Second Gateway
Fizgig has arrived in system. She has an audacious battle plan, but there are a lot of unknowns. She isn’t sure they can fight the Fortress class mechs, but they try an orbital bombardment to stop them. That bombardment fails. Now we know the final stakes. She needs to beat them in orbit, and get Nolan off world without losing their forces to the fortress mechs.
Nolan realizes Fizgig’s predicament, and launches his raid to try to blow up the fortress class mechs. They wire up one, and are at the...

Conclusion
Fizgig has gathered the coalition forces into a sizable armada. They’re now outfitted with a new crop of hyper developed mechs, both scout and line. They have new pulse cannons, which are capable of overloading the Ganog’s gravitic shields. They have three times as many vessels, all designed to run with a minimal crew since people are their most previous resource after the Eradication.
By this point the Ganog have invaded the fringes of ancient Primo space. They’re nowhere near Earth or Tigrana,...

Plot Arcs
Fizgig getting new armaments and organizing the fleet. This arc should be much shorter, no more than a quarter of the book. This is Nolan’s story. However, we want at least two major battles showing Fizgig / Khar, the beginning and the end of the book.

Nolan trying to find a way off world. In the process, he learns about the Gorthians and their affect on the Ganog empire. Getting off world seems impossible, because three Ganog Dreadnaughts are parked in orbit. They can warp in others, enough to...

Titles
It’s about (The Man Next to You)
Behind the Lines

The Ganog Wars

Mystery Arc
The Nameless Ones are out there, ready to return and take control of the armies in this sector of space. Our characters don’t know where, or when this will occur. They’re investigating to find out, and this mystery needs to loom over everything. The war with the Ganog is, in many ways, a smokescreen and they know that.
The Gorthians are clever, and could be manipulating things even now. They could have implanted senior personnel, or even this emperor. In the Void Wraith trilogy you leapt right i...