“...and of the five, only one was borne in the Lord Tetra’s own image. And so he was called Tetran and it was his rightful place to stand above all others.”

-- The Order of Tetra, Author Unkown

In a solar system of nine planets, the third has grown strong in its unchecked power. The President is a puppet controlled by a secret theocracy, the religious Order of Tetra. Its leader, Daniel Fallgood, advises The President in all matters and is now focused on fulfilling his singular duty: spreading the Order and putting Tetrans in control of the five species in the system. Daniel has the might of an advanced military at his fingertips and now has scientists researching a new weapon: a black energy creator that could entirely wipe out the existence of its victims. More importantly, it could erase any evidence that they ever existed.

The figurehead of Daniel’s military might is his son, Matthew Fallgood, a profusely decorated soldier with more battle experience than anyone else on the planet. Though he leads his own troops now, he still heroically fights alongside them in the trenches and on the fields. A family man, Matthew publicly hopes for his enemies to see the light of the Order so that he can return safely to his wife and their children. Privately, Matthew battles PTSD with a heavy drug addiction.

In the alleyways and abandoned factories of Tetra, artists are creating a resistance. They lead the poor and beaten down with their graffiti, their writing, and, most importantly, their music. Anti-Order music has been outlawed, but the resistance is growing thanks to Trent Fallgood, lead singer of an electronic rock band that refuses to stop playing. Trent is also Daniel’s son, though his mother disappeared with him at a young age to raise him away from the abusive, temperamental zealot. The Order’s police are closing on Trent, busting more and more of his band’s shows, but his rage at Daniel fuels him to strengthen the resistance until it can topple the theocracy.

In deep space, a scientist from the system’s second planet is working on the black matter creator. Told that her work will be used to create the first teleportation device, Marrin spends days at a time trying to build the technology to push atoms apart and reattach them. Like the rest of her species, Marrin walks upright and is covered in light blue fur. She also boasts a brown streak of fur down her back. Just below the pits of her muscular arms, there is another, smaller set. Her feet are flipper-like with long bone protrusions at the ends. Her partner, Miles, is very similar, though his hair is a pale orange color as he originates from a river-based society on their planet and consumes large amounts of pink algae. More adventurers than lab scientists, Marrin and Miles often brag about their dangerous work across the system. In a particularly bad run-in with the aquatic inhabitants of the seventh planet, Miles’s tongue was removed and he was nearly executed before Marrin rescued him. Though he finds their life in deep space to be much less exciting, Marrin is incredibly excited about their work.

Until she discovers how Daniel plans to use her technology.

Ka’leg is a young, newly-recruited soldier living on the system’s first planet, Terrene. His people live underground in vast cities lit by luminescent moss. Just out of school and deeply in love, Ka’leg reluctantly joins the military with his best friend. When their planet is attacked by Tetra, however, the quiet, reserved Ka’leg kills dozens of his enemies and is given a chance to join the Peace Seekers, who are looking to join forces with other planets against Tetra. Reluctantly, he leaves his home to meet with the other three species and build alliances.

His plans do not include the ninth planet, which has been used as a prison for all of the system’s planets. Prisoners with life sentences are loaded onto ships and dropped onto the planet, where they are free to live their lives away from society. On the cold, dark planet, crime is the only government. Everyone lives in squalor and filth, shivering through the days and the nights. Akari and Akiro were raised on this planet after their Tetran parents refused to recognize Daniel Fallgood as the true leader of the Order. Soon after landing, their parents were killed and the six-year-old twins relied on one another to survive. Though their pasts include drug dealing, arms trading, and prostitution, they are now two of the most skilled assassins-for-hire in the system. Now in their late teens, they have their sights set on the man who drove them to this wasteland: Daniel Fallgood.

The lives, and sometimes the deaths, of these characters will collide headfirst with one another as they try to build or destroy the Order of Tetra. Alliances will be formed and broken, truth will be questioned, and the Order will either fall or squeeze its hand around the nine planets.

A puppet regime. A religious zealot. A decorated soldier. An outlaw musician. A hopeful scientist. A rebel in love. Twin assassins.

Nine planets. One Order.

Author’s Note: This novel is intended to be the first in a series, mostly centering around the Fallgood family.

Chapter 1 coming soon! Until then, you can find the author at www.noahwelsh.wordpress.com or on Twitter @p_nosha. There are also Facebook pages for his novel The Lights In the Sky and his artists’ group LavaLamp Studios.