As Wolves Fade

***As Wolves Fade*** is a 2020 political science fiction novel written by J. B. Weissfeld. It is the first novel of Ancoran Archives series and the first in the *Ascendancy*trilogy. *As Wolves Fade* details the inner workings of the Ancoran government and military.

## **Plot Summary**

### **Synopsis**

It's the 6042 AGT (After the Great Thaw). The notorious town of Nora with a majority of Oorish residents on the FRINGE (stands for Foreigners' Region in the North and the Greater East) border has been guarded by surveillance device called PHANOS (Protective Heuristic Algorithmic Neural Order Surveillance) against the Djormorian raids for a long time to safeguard the alternum mining operation. An alarm from PHANOS warns the military governing body of the Ancoran Republic, Praetorium, and the Eastern Protectorate to act against what seems to be a tampering attempt.

To protect its citizens, Praetorium provisions the renowned military expedition officer Captain Abel Brandtson and his Ironfang Contubernium who are stationed the closest to Nora as reinforcements while help tries to get there. After six days under harsh winter conditions at Atmos Control Point north of Nora, the contubernium does not get the needed help from the engineering team as they could not even make it to Nora. PHANOS shuts down completely and the contubernium starts losing communications. Their resources also start running low. While the chapter remains stranded in Atmos CP waiting for the engineering team, their resources start running low. They had not planned as they thought this would be a short support mission. A party in Tina’s command goes to Nora to requisition supplies for the chapter. The vendor denies Tina the supplies by lying and then finally when threatened by Tina, confesses that he knows Tina’s father and they know Bramoors left Nora to work for the Wolf (Ancoran government and Praetorium). While Tina is an outsider in her chapter, she is also an outsider for Norans. She was born in Nora and raised by a single father. Tina has to battle Norans, looking down at her as the Ancoran scum and her own siblings-at-arms. At this time, a Djormorian raiding party supported by FRINGE insurgents attack the control point, completely overpowering the contubernium except for one survivor; Sergeant Tina Bramoor of Oorish roots.

### **Tina's way**

She starts walking her way back to Nora in the harsh winter conditions. During her journey, she is stalked by the vicious legendary Sorjenavir, a wild vorator (an animal like a very large wolf). She fights it and barely escapes with her life and finally arrives at Nora, the town where she was born and raised and the town where she turned her back on, rejecting her Oorish roots.

Tina waits until the attackers leave, assuming no survivors, under the dead bodies of her siblings-at-arms. Just at the last moment, a final flurry of random bullets are fired into the pile where she’s at and she’s shot in her thigh. She’s hurt under her camo, she reaches in her wound with a lot of pain and pinches it shut. At that moment, she starts thinking about what happened.

She sees the faces of other people. She remembers the memories with them. She also goes back to her childhood and remembers all the time with her father and her mother leaving them when she was really young. She also remembers how her father took her to the lake.

She applies a tourniquet to her wound on one feet. She sees the corpse of Abel Brandt; she can only identify it by the rank insignia and the name on the uniform. Abel’s head has completely exploded. She tries to communicate using Abel’s old-fashioned RC. Does not work. She looks around and sees a few insurgent bodies. She goes to look at them and feels torn within. These are familiar faces. The ones she could’ve called siblings if they’d stayed in Nora. Other than that, she sees very large blood tracks. Her suspicions grow. She believes there were definitely djor reinforcements assisting the insurgents. She has to make up her mind. If she tries to go back to Nora, she knows she might be killed. She decides to take a long route avoiding the city. With her systems not functioning in the heavy snow and the malfunctioning PHANOS, she listens to her gut but gets lost.

She feels like she’s being followed or stalked but can’t make anything out. Then in the low visibility, she makes out a reddish and brownish figure on fours, closing in on her. She remembers that this is Sordjenawir from the Oorish tales, the Crimson Beast or Jada as the Vesperans call her. It is a large, scary, lone vorator (wolf) known to prowl the lands around here. Jada gets closer, showing her teeth, growling. Tina, while losing blood and in the cold, remembers what her father taught her.

She avoids eye contact, starts backing down, stands up, and tries to make herself appear larger while growling. The vorator starts snarling and growling and slowly getting closer. Tina gives her all with her hoarse voice and starts shouting “Kill me if you can! You can’t scare me!” The vorator backs down a few steps, Tina is also at her energy’s end. She falls down on one knee. Jada sees this as a sign of momentary weakness and charges. Tina hears the vorator charging from 100 meters away, it takes the vorator 7 seconds to reach Tina. Tina reaches for her pugio, slashes Jada’s humeral area that throws her off. The vorator is seriously hurt, and shies away from the confrontation, starts running limping.

Having given her last drop of energy, Tina falls down and she feels she can’t do this anymore. She lets herself fall and upside down, she sees Nora, in the distance. She realizes that Jada actually steered her towards the town where Tina actually wanted to avoid it. Her pain intensifies and she remembers that she actually does not want to die. She turns on her abdomen and tries to get up, falls down, crawls, falls down again, conserves her energy and drags herself towards the town. She gets in, not caring anymore and all those years she forbade herself to speak, she cries out “Alikaria! Zeialikaria!” (Help! Help me!) In the darkness, Norans get out of their shops and houses to reach their help. Tina is carried out on a makeshift stretcher and she makes out the face of the vendor, trying to help her.

### **Lorne's way**

Back in Nova Roma, a few hours before the raid at Atmos Control Point, Reverence Day is coming up and Nova Roma is decorated for the great day. The Church of Reverence heads the organization as Nova Romans and all Ancorans get ready to revere the abandoned starship Adastra in orbit. Lorne Kirinoor, a tinkerer and an apprentice mechanic at Kowal's Customs in Nova Roma's Grouse District which is mostly populated by Ancoran-Oorish people. While Lorne is of Oorish origin, he dreams of becoming a Marine and does research about their power armors, pressure suits, exosuits, gauss rifles, and knows many things about them. However, Lorne’s mother, Aram, is politically active and against the Ancoran government and Praetorium. Anytime Lorne starts talking about his dream of becoming a Marine, Aram discourages him and gives him a saying about how evil the Vesperans are. Here Lorne becomes conflicted as he and his mother are both Ancoran citizens--according to their passports. He obviously understands the difference of ethnicity and citizenship but cannot comprehend the animosity between the two sides. He is interested in the demonstration and the celebration of the the Day and wants to know more about it while Aram urges Lorne not to go. His friend, Janine Pelzo, is a very serious activist and a guerilla journalist She keeps Lorne close by as a part to further her cause and get more interest by using a real Oorish person during the celebration of the Day. Aram definitely knows that there will be an attack against Praetorium forces as a warning from Oorish separatists. Aram is chosen as the last victim to take part in the suicide bombing as a message to Ancorans. In that sense, she asks her brother Mrad who distanced himself from the Oorish separatists for the sake of her Ancoran wife and their unborn child’s future, to take Lorne in before the Day. Aram strictly tells Mrad that he should never ever let Lorne go out for the celebration. She has no plan as to how to explain what’s gonna happen. Mrad takes some valuables from home and takes Lorne to his house. On his way to his uncle, Lorne sees a few Elite Marines on the streets and he goes crazy in his head. He has no idea that his father was an Elite Marine who raped his mother.

Mrad takes Lorne home but Lorne’s politically active friend Janine “Pelzo” Pelazzio texts Lorne to get out. Lorne says to her he’s not allowed but Pelzo somehow convinces Lorne to get him out. Pelzo just wants to have a real Oorish person next to her so that she can boost her budding career as a journalist. Lorne wants to be an ordinary person with childish dreams of becoming an Elite Marine in a cohort or the centurion but Pelzo disregards his inauthentic behaviors. She takes him out and introduces him to her friends and starts lying about him in front of her friends to gain traction. At that point, Lorne understands that Pelzo wants to use him and actually has no interest in him, personally. Lorne walks away while Pelzo is running away from him.

Lorne goes to the square and he sees that there is an informal speech while people are singing Likwin Herema (Bloody Square) folk song. Lorne sees his mother giving a heartfelt speech in the Ancoran language. Pelzo sees this as an opportunity and starts live broadcasting from her phone. The last sentences are “here is what we can do'' and then detonates the bomb on her. The last thing Lorne hears and sees is his exploding mother. As everyone is gathered at the Nova Roman Forum, a group of suicide bombers detonate themselves in the Forum, the Comms building, and a few other critical spots.

Shocked by the scene and the blast, Lorne wakes up, dizzy. With the help of adrenaline, he gets himself together and tries to go to the scene but it is like hell. So many dead bodies and emergency services, Lorne desperately tries to find his mother because he can’t believe what happened. At that moment, he sees Pelzo and while trying to get to her, he sees the Praetorium Elite Marines, looking for suspects. Lorne hides away from the Elites because he remembers that the Marines can do an ID check and find out he has Oorish roots from his last name and incarcerate him. He lets the Marines pass and reaches where a slightly injured Pelzo is lying. Pelzo looks for her phone while Lorne is trying to get out of there, quickly.

While they are running away by hiding in the state of chaos, Mrad finds them. Mrad takes Pelzo and Lorne to his house. Pelzo asks if this is a good idea instead of a safehouse and Mrad tells her that all the safehouses are now compromised but he says he’s a Vesperan citizen and ethnicity has nothing to do with him. They all go to Mrad’s house.

After they go to Mrad’s house, Mrad gives Lorne a piece of his mind about going out to the demonstration. Lorne goes mad and starts asking Mrad questions about why his mother killed herself. Mrad explains to him about the underground organization of the Oors in Nova Roma and her mother wanted to be the martyr for the cause. Lorne challenges Mrad and says he has been a bad brother for his mother and a bad uncle for him. Mrad explains to him that if Aram hadn’t done it, he would have been the one so he jumped at the chance because he wanted to start a new life and he had expectations with his wife or girlfriend, Neela. Finally, Mrad hands Lorne his mother’s necklace and her goodbye letter. Lorne reads everything in tears and talks to Pelzo for reassurance. Pelzo is there for him, consoling him and encouraging him to explain more as she thinks this is the time he needs it. Actually, Pelzo thinks this is all a great story and would skyrocket her status as a journalist so she records everything and takes pictures of every souvenir. Lorne and Pelzo get intimate.

The next morning, Lorne wakes up alone and sees Pelzo preparing breakfast with Mrad while having a conversation with Neela and feeling her baby bump. Lorne is still in shock. He believes he got closure from her mother and is angry at her for leaving him like that while Mrad gets a chance for a new life. He goes down and they have a hasty breakfast. Mrad feels like he needs to get Lorne out of here as he’s Aram’s son and he will be put in jail or worse, executed, as he’s a direct threat. At that moment, Pelzo receives a notification on her phone on her story. She explains to Lorne that her story was accepted anonymously and she got a massive bonus from the Nova Roman news website and they could start fresh. Lorne and Mrad go mad as they feel betrayed because Pelzo used their story. Pelzo does not see this as a big deal as she says the news website took it anonymously so it would be OK. Mrad says there’s no anonymity when it comes to state affairs and Praetorium will hunt them down.

At that moment, the door is knocked very aggressively and Pelzo and Lorne are escorted outside to the garden by Neela. Elite Marines come in, asking the whereabouts of Janine Pelazzio and Aram’s son. Mrad says he does not know. The cohort captain in black exosuit reads the data from the tablet they received from their partners. Mrad shows them his Vesperan ID and Neela as a Vesperan woman. Captain Kurth just shakes his head and asks Mrad if he really wants to play this game and insults him with racial slurs. Mrad insists. All these things happen while Pelzo and Lorne are watching from the garden. Kurth does not waste time more and shoots Neela on the leg. Mrad goes crazy and runs to Kurth to which Kurth responds by shooting him several times in the air and also when he’s down. He walks to Neela, angrily asking how she could let an Oorish boar to defile her highborn womb. Neela, in pain, curses and Kurth thanks her for proving the evidence for insulting a Praetorium officer. He shoots her, killing her instantly. Lorne and Pelzo make a run for it but they are seen by a few Elite Marines.

Pelzo suggests hiding but Lorne’s knowledge about Elite Marines comes in handy. He tells her that these guys possess DNA tracking so they are able to identify people even from a distance. They run to a part of Nova Roma where dead bodies are collected and they go in the body bags where traces of other DNA interfere with theirs so they can fool them. They spend the night in a body bag.

After spending the night in body bags to trick the elite guard, Lorne gets out with Pelzo to see the dead around, the choppers above, and the Praetorium prefects patrolling under dark skies; he understands the gravity of the situation. Adrenaline wears off and he understands that he lost his mother, his uncle, his sister-in-law, and his unborn cousin. He ponders how everything was different a day ago and he had no idea about the Elite Guard or Praetorium. All his respect and wants for Praetorium go away. He blames them first and complains to Pelzo about this. His second target is Pelzo. He screams at Pelzo for giving away their location and the death of his uncle and his family. Pelzo accepts the blame but tells Lorne that her mother would sacrifice herself if he had not gone outside and Praetorium would still come after Mrad as he was the next of kin. Pelzo also says she kind of saved Lorne’s life as he would have had no idea when Praetorium came after her. “You can’t change the past and the present is inexorable.”

Lorne goes on to put the blame on his mother. Why did she have to do that? He does not have an idea. Pelzo says that was probably an honor for her to do so. Lorne is still so mad at his mother for leaving him. Pelzo says that Aram probably thought that she was leaving Lorne in Mrad’s good hands. Lorne reaches for the last thing Aram left him; the letter and the necklace. After a sentimental moment, Pelzo sees a patrol and tells Lorne that they should get going.

While they run from the patrol, Lorne reminds them to go somewhere with a lot of people so that they could fool the DNA trackers. They go to a crowded place where the wounded are being tended to, and there Lorne sees Vesperan people who are also being treated and his hate towards Praetorium starts subsiding. They act a little tense and someone notices; a scrapper black market merchant named Theo Lou.

Theo approaches the pair and asks “How can I help you?” Theo thinks these are two rich kids that want to pawn something and he thinks he can get it for cheap. When Lorne and Pelzo decline his offer to help, he insists and gets aggressive. He goes on by saying: “Listen to me, you two! I know your kind. You probably have something and you want to pawn it in the chaos so that you two can get away in this mess.” Lorne remembers what happened to him but he’s also aware that Kieran Kurth is probably after him with the DNA tracker.

It is also plausible as many people try to leave the city in flight-response and get their valuables pawned in exchange for guns or other contraband.

Theo acknowledges that both are aloof so there’s something off about these, too. When a small squad of Elites come into the black market, the crowd starts to disperse and Theo sees Lorne and Pelzo panicking. Theo sees this as an opportunity as he believes these younglings have something extremely illegal. He offers help but Lorne says they need to contaminate his DNA so that they can’t be tracked. Theo goes to one of the stands and grabs some critter meat and slashes them, takes some and leaves the rest. They all get on Theo’s old speeder and move on.

When they reach Theo’s hideout, they see it is a well-hidden place. The entrance is covered with scraps, metals and blends in perfectly. They go inside and Lorne sees that the place is like a big workshop. There are bits and pieces of items everywhere. After Theo makes them feel welcome by giving them opportunities to take a bath, kind of feeds them with the critter meat he took. Lorne and Pelzo take a rest.

When they wake up, they find Theo on top of them, holding a gun. They get up from their place, hands high in the air. Theo asks them what kind of illegal thing they have so that Praetorium is after them. Lorne goes into shock and can’t say anything but Pelzo remains calm and starts talking to Theo. At that moment, Lorne wants to be the big guy and tries to impress Theo. He asks for permission to reach into his pocket and produces his mother’s necklace. He tries to sell it as a very important piece of jewellery and that it was a family heirloom and that it was in his family for generations  and Praetorium is after this. Theo looks at the necklace very carefully and pushes it aside with the barrel of his pistol. He starts laughing and says “Sentiments don’t pay enough” and tells them he does not believe in them. Pelzo comes forward and tells the truth, much to Lorne’s protest. Without giving Theo a chance, Pelzo continues that if he tries to make a deal with Praetorium, they won’t care because he’s a criminal, too, and if he tries to make a deal with any kind of slavers, slavers will kill him instead of paying. They also know that Praetorium does not negotiate; they just go in and take what is theirs.

Theo agrees but then he says he does not care because he cannot give them shelter here as everything will become tighter financially. Pelzo says Lorne can help Theo with his gizmos as he knows what he is doing and she says she has cash supply but unreachable due to her phone being dead and it is impossible to get a charger. They strike a deal to make this work. Theo will find a charger and repair Pelzo’s phone, in return of Lorne trying to fix a lot of unused and hoarded junk in Theo’s place. Theo says that if he forces them under gunpoint to do what he says, Pelzo responds by saying that he’s free to do it but he won’t get anything out of it and he would be missing out on so much. Theo unwillingly accepts and tells them they would be sleeping in the basement and takes them there.

There, Lorne sees an old Praetorium power armor; a few marks older version than the current ones, rusting, missing a few vital pieces, and not functioning. He can’t believe his eyes and starts dreaming of the day he would be able to fix this.

Shocked by what happened, Praetorium issues nationwide emergency and starts shutting down the town borders. Nighthowl Chapter led by Colonel Tomas Rasmussen rushes to the demolished control zone, finding out that Nora has also been ransacked by the Djormori. Few survivors point out that the Djormori and FRINGE insurgents have also taken prisoners. Rasmussen reports back to Praetorium and proposes an expedition in order to rescue the Ancoran prisoners.

Lorne is a tinkerer and an apprentice mechanic who still lives with his mother, Aram who is of Oorish origin. Lorne's biggest dream is to restore an old speeder that he bought illegally and be an engineer for Praetorium.

Praetorium Commander Jacob Leonhardtsohn comes under heavy fire from the government and people as he starts wrestling with too many problems at once. Led by Commander, Ordo Imperatori Vesperum convene and decide that an expedition should take place and station around Nora until PHANOS can be repaired while the popular opinion demands that Praetorium should take the war to the djor. Knowing that this will mean having to cross FRINGE borders with armed forces and confront Freyan insurgents, OIV advises against it but the government states that “the people have spoken.”

Encouraged by the people’s opinion, Colonel Rasmussen publicly states that Expedition Atmos is inevitable and he will be "honored to wipe the Djormoriscum off Ancora." Commander finally gives in to the pressure for two reasons; his and Praetorium’s credibility and their sense of providing safety to the people.

Expedition Atmos kicks off with Colonel Rasmussen leading his chapter to Atmos. The plan is to set up camp at Atmos Control Point, reinforce and secure Nora and go beyond FRINGE borders to take the fight to the djor, and bring the prisoners home. With Atmos secured and Nora reinforced, PHANUS can be reactivated and the town can be fortified against possible Djormoriraids.

Lt. Geroy Predka from Nighthowl Chapter