The Firebreak: A Primer Story in the Breakdown Universe

by Theodore Hodges, Michael Waitz (Editor)

The end isn't coming. It's here. And you can't save everyone. Every year, 17,000 objects from outside our planet burn up in the atmosphere—dying before they can kiss the soil of our planet. They enter, immolate themselves via friction, and that is the end of their story.

Or at least most do…

In 2028, in a universe very much like ours, a small comet appears without warning and shocks the world. Thankfully, it is too small to be a threat, or so the experts believe.

Hours pass, and people across every nation flood hospitals and overwhelm the global infrastructure. Hundreds become thousands, then millions, then billions. Social and political flashpoints boil over in the chaos. Nations collapse, armies rise, and an opera of annihilation plays out for a captive audience. In a matter of weeks, the Cosmic Virus consumes everything in its path.

In its wake, survivors glimpse something beyond even the veil of reality.

There, unnatural powers exist, and they hunger for the souls of mankind.

While humanity enters its darkest hour, a conspiracy of bureaucrats and soldiers initiate a final throw of the dice. But the price for this gambit, this “Operation Firebreak,” is steeper than any other in human history.

It falls to Delta Force operator, Thomas Beckett, to make it happen.

Through his choices and sacrifices, humanity will live, die, or become a plaything for evils beyond reckoning.

(This story is a sample from the larger work, The Lords of the Dead)

273 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 19, 2023

About the author

Theodore "Ted" Hodges is a US Army infantry veteran, two time recipient to an all expenses paid trip to Bactria by the US Government, and major fan of stories about space wizards, warfare, politics, history, and the soldiering profession. He writes because there is no greater joy for him to engage with theoretical worlds with a willing audience. More importantly, perhaps, Hodges believes in the profession of arms and the greatest acts of humanity the inhumanity of group violence can produce.

Most of Hodges' work focuses on the nature of warriors. Some tales explore whether or not anyone can step in the same river twice after seeing the elephant. Others are about the oaths we swear and to whom we swear them. All are about fraternity and loyalty, the greatest gift to any human being who has picked up a rifle, spear, or gladius in service to their homeland.