Chris Hechtl's Blog, page 12

Tauren Invasion Snippet 3

 

Chapter 3

 

Lebynthos

 

“Knowingis half the battle,” Lieutenant Shana O'Hara said. The lieutenant was fromNuevo and one of the newest to arrive. She had red shoulder-length hair and thenickname “Scarlet” to go with it.

She wasalso in army intelligence and had taught the class on Nuevo at the academy andthen taught it remotely in Antigua before accepting a transfer. She'd expecteda transfer to the front, possibly even Pi. Instead, she had been sent to Tau.

Now shehad to make the most of what she saw as a bad situation career wise.

Shekept up to date on the pirates but her new focus was on the Confederation. Shehad already researched the biology and psychology of the Tauren species as wellas their history. What was surprising was the lack of material on the currentConfederation. They did not let anyone in. It was a police state in all butname.

Thereport that they had implants made her curious. She began to compare what theyknew to what the Federation did with implants in Taurens. There was a lot ofvariety possible.

Shesurveyed her class. There was a half dozen in the class; army intelligencewasn't a big thing at the moment. Everyone was into the other specialtiesapparently. That might change in the future though.

“A goodbattle plan means you need good intelligence. That means doing yourhomework—know the history, know the terrain, know the players, and knowyourself. To paraphrase Sun Tzu's The Art of War, 'If you know the enemy andknow yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you knowthe enemy but not yourself, for every victory you achieve you will suffer adefeat. If you know not yourself or the enemy, you will be beaten in everybattle,” she said.

Shesurveyed the class. “That's my version of it. Learn the original sourcematerial. Study it. He's right; intelligence can be the key to winning orlosing a battle. Questions?”

“SunTzu?” a bull terrier asked.

“Yes.What about him?”

“Terran?”

“Yes.Chinese. Ancient. You'll find a lot of ancient battle strategists are stillrelevant even in this day and age.” She saw his look of disbelief. “Theconcepts remain the same even if the battlefield and tech changes. Figure itout,” she said as she turned to the rest of the class.

~~{}~~

MajorLetterman frowned as he scanned Lieutenant O'Hara's report on the Tauren Confedtech. She had more questions than answers in it, which he unfortunately agreedwith.

Theymight learn more after studying the Tauren guards a bit more. Their nail gunslooked normal, nothing new there. They had standard light body armor, nothingpowered. Pity they couldn't get a detailed look.

Hecopied her memo into a condensed form and sent it off to the capital andforwarded it to Ensign Virginia with a request for the raw feeds of the guards.That would of course have to come by courier, but that was fine.

Herbaseline comparison to what the Federation put into Taurens was good, possiblyspot-on. But they didn't know the standards of Confed implants or their techlevel. She erred on the side of caution, basing her comparison straight acrossthe board. She was right; it was better to be surprised that they weren't up toFederation standard than to get bitten in the ass for being overconfident.

He wascurious if they had come up with anything new though. He knew the Taurens had asoft spot for powered combat armor and ground combat. What had they come upwith in their isolation?

Hewasn't sure if he was willing to find out the hard way.

~~{}~~

CaptainJG Mya Halice watched the work party being put through their paces. They had towork on the equipment and get it right. They were fortunate to be in themaintenance bay with proper equipment. They even had grav lifts along withstandard push-pulls.

Thegrav lifts were an item she was still leery about using. You had to be waryaround them; if you stuck your hand under them when the presser was on, itwould slam you down. The same for a foot or something else. She'd seen a fewpeople get injured; a couple even had a leg ripped off when they got careless.There was a reason for the lights, sirens, and warning tape.

Butthey were incredibly useful too. A forklift or push-pull outfitted with a gravlift could move very large cargoes in a hurry. You set it up under the cargo,made sure it was balanced and secured to the platform or frame and then turnedit on. The system self-balanced as it lifted off until it was floating acentimeter or so off the deck or ground.

Nuevohad toyed with the idea of making lifting devices with air, but they had provento be noisy and not nearly as effective as they'd hoped. The hover craft hadcome in useful in other ways later though.

Shewatched as the team put the lift around the troop transport and then link themtogether. The grav lift itself was locked down to the bay by a robotic arm. Themodules linked up and then the glow came on and the vehicle lifted off.

On aship, the system would be connected to the ship's computer to negate thegravity under the object. On the ground, it allowed the robotic arm to easilyswing the vehicle around and then lift it into a cradle. Once it was securedthere, the emitters were shut off, and the mechanics moved in to work on theunderside.

Sheshook her head. A better setup would have been a mechanical pit or a hydrauliclift under each corner. But oh no, they had to get hyper technical about thething. Over complicated, easy to break down, no wonder the old Federationcollapsed.

Herlips pursed in annoyance. This latest foul-up was courtesy of the people inRho. They wanted the army to have the best tech toys and money. She shook herhead.

“Okay,what's wrong with this picture?” she asked, stopping the work. All eyes turnedto her. “Toys,” she said, indicating the arm and lift. “Toys break. Toys arehere, not in the field. So, if you were in the field, how would you deal withthis problem?”

“Call awrecker?”

“Youare the wrecker and maintenance team,” she stated caustically. “Try again.”

“Ah …?”

“I wantanswers, people! Think old school,” she said, pacing.

ATauren lifted his hand. She pointed to him. “Speak.”

“Dig atrench. Roll the vehicle over the trench and do the work. In this case droppingthe transmission.”

“Got itin one! Easy, simple, and cheap. Remember that, people, when you are out in thefield and the toys break or are unavailable! It could save your ass,” shegrowled.

Shesurveyed the group and then nodded once. “Carry on,” she said as she tookherself off.

~~{}~~

Tauren Invasion Snippet 2

 

Chapter 2

 

Lebynthos

 

Major Lettermannodded to himself as he watched the shuttle lift off. The shuttle was carryinga squad of Army Corps of Engineer students. They were headed out to a site inthe north to work on their wood cutting and managing skills.

He turned hisattention to the school and college campus. It was coming along, though theystill had some issues to deal with. Basic courses were still a problem.Eventually the level of education in the recruits should remedy that. Untilthen they had to educate their recruits. Sometimes the education went down tothe very basics of reading and writing, let along the advanced math needed byengineers.

He shook hishead.

He had justdispatched three scouting teams to scout for new army bases in the sector. Theyeach had a list of four worlds to explore. They had to approach itapolitically, though he knew some were favored over others. He had to get theprocessing started now even though he knew the decision might be made beforethe teams even arrived on the planet to do the actual survey. Things weremoving in that direction in the Federation Senate at the moment.

Focus in thesector was on the navy and plague relief. He knew that it was shifting thoughand with good reason. Certain parties had always considered Tau to be a bastionof army recruits. Taurens preferred ground operations over ships, and forcenturies their sector had been where to find good Tauren engineers and armygrunts.

They had beenflooded by refugees however, so the population had shifted over the past sevencenturies or so. He was seeing a mixed bag of recruits. Initially, they hadbeen human since most humans had been immune to the plagues. That was slowlychanging however.

He tucked hishands behind his back. He knew that the brass had anticipated a lot ofrecruiting initially before the plagues had been revealed. Those numbers wouldcome in time; it was just going to take longer than anticipated.

He had littlecall for line troops so he was focused on the engineers, MASH, and supports.The engineers were turning into the premier army unit at the moment now thatthe calls for MASH units had slowly begun to dry up. He was certain that theirskills would be put to good use on the many agricultural worlds across thesector and eventually, hopefully, in the galaxy at large.

He smiled ever soslightly to himself. To think that one of his students in the future may become a general on some far away world halfway across the galaxy… yeah, that was cool.

~~{}~~

Captain SeniorGrade Straus Hamilton strode across the tarmac and to the hangar nearby. Hethought of it as his basic stride though he'd been teasingly told it was more ofa liquid role, almost a stalking motion. The black Neopanther flicked his earsin passing to people going about their business. He didn't want or need them tocome to attention for him; he had places to be and didn't want to delay.

So far so good,the scouts were off, the engineer recruits were off under Lieutenant Scarback'seyes, and he didn't have an inbox of paperwork to do battle with. Life wasgood.

Now, if he couldwrap up the class he had to teach, he could maybe cut out early and find a nicehammock to take a nap in during the heat of the island day. Until then he'dhave to adjust to the air-conditioning in the school and the less humidconditions therein.

~~{}~~

Captain JuniorGrade Mya Halice saw Captain Hamilton striding across the tarmac and nodded toherself. She'd wanted to see the recruits off but she'd been delayed.Technically, she was the senior Army Corps of Engineers officer in the sector.Like Straus she was from Nuevo. They had known each other on their homeworldperipherally and had caught up a little when they had time out of stasis. Shewas grateful to see a familiar face.

Her mind turnedto the upcoming mission. It would be Lieutenant Scarback's first solo missionwith recruits. She hoped he got it right.

Tauren Invasion Snippet 1

 Sitrep: So, still smarting over the loss of Red. It is very quiet in the house, I miss having her. We've been looking into getting another pair of furballs but so far we've come up empty.

In other news, I am knee deep in the next book, Academy, which is turning into a short story book rather than the original book I'd planned on years ago. What can I say, adapt and evolve right? :) It is broken into 6 stories with 7 interludes. I started Tuesday and I've gotten the interludes done as well as 2 of the 6 stories are roughed out.

I sent Tauren Invasion (I've been sitting on it since last fall) to Rea Tuesday after snipping out a lot of stuff she's already edited. But, in working on Academy I was remiss in posting the snippets! She got the manuscript back to me Friday. I need to stitch it back together with the usual back material ...eventually.

 

Anyway, here is the first snippet!

Chapter 1

 

New TauMetropolis

 

LieutenantBoni checked the latest budgets and scanned them into memory. The AI noted thediscrepancy in funding and initiated an internal sigh. She knew it had beencoming, so had Admiral Logan but that didn't mean it wasn't disappointing.

Thearmy had gotten a lot of support in congress from their partisans. They hadgrown fat from all of the budget windfalls, spending a lot of the money onbuying land for bases across the sector. It was no surprise, Taurens were knownfor their favoritism for the Army. They were supported by the New Texans thoughwho also loved the ground pounding grunts.

Overthe past four and a half years they had built a big presence of army corps ofengineers and MASH units across the eastern reaches of the sector. They werewell seen and well used; the MASH units had been helpful in stopping the pirateplagues and turning other medical crisis's aside.

Theengineers were up to their necks in infrastructure projects all over thesector. Both units were highly popular and therefore shown in the mediafrequently. Their achievements won them gratitude and continued support incongress and with the public.

All 3branches of the military had recruiting offices scattered across the sector inFederation space as well as just outside it. The army had the most though, andthey enjoyed that success.

She hadbeen surprised that Major Letterman had yet to be replaced. He was a likeablefellow according to her principle. He also worked well with Major RandyMcCostney, his Marine counterpart. They hadn't gotten into any pissingcontests, which was surprising.

Initiallythe Marines had settled on Lebynthos first. They had set up their trainingfacilities on a chain of islands. When the Army had set up shop they had'borrowed' the marine base and facilities until their own had been established.

TheMarines were a pale shadow of what they were in Rho sector. Recruiting wasstill well off expectations. She understood why, the Marines were the premiercombat unit. They had to train for both space and ground duty and theirexacting standards drove a lot of recruits away. Most recruits were stillstruggling with a modern education and wanted to remain in the sector. An armycareer meant a chance at reservist postings in the sector. It also meant acollege education for some, and a cushy job for most with the idea of banking aretirement fund over time.

Shechecked the files and noted that Delos, Samos, and other star systems hadrequested inspections for Necrons. She passed the files and request on to theground forces after a cursory check of the files on each location.

~~{}~~

Lebynthos

 

MajorLetterman looked over to his counterpart. “You’re getting the requests forvisits too?” he asked, clearly nonplussed by the sudden attention.

“Requestsor invites no. Demands yes,” Major McCostney stated. The Marine Neochimp didn'tlook pleased about the situation.

Hisarmy counterpart shook his head. “I have to admit, your people turned over acan of worms none of us were expecting.”

“Iknow. We're working on it.”

“Goodfor you but my people are the true ground pounders. The problem is I don't havethe right people in the right places … yet.”

“Yeah,but that wasn't the priority you had before,” the Neochimp reminded him. Thearmy was set to do a lot of recruiting in Tau sector, but they were set up tocreate Engineering Corps and MASH units not full-on combat units. They werestill getting a handle on the training side of things.

Lebynthoswas an okay place to train for engineering and MASH, especially with theirfrequent hurricanes but not for everything that needed to be covered. With theplagues still a problem, the MASH units had to divide their time betweenlearning basic operations and handling a pandemic.

“Idon't have a lot of Recon teams in the sector,” the Neochimp mused. “And Idon't expect any from the SpecOps community anytime soon.”

“Thesame. So, we have to deal with what we've got in-house. Ideas?”

“Well,Lebynthos has been cleared; we've been all over this place. I think we can callthe space stations more or less secured, though we can't be certain untilsomeone checks every centimeter.”

MajorLetterman nodded. He wanted additional bases. No, he needed additional basesacross the sector. This Necron thing might help him with that. He might be ableto spin it into getting additional deployments on other worlds, if not a fullbase then at least some sort of supply and training base.

“Divideand conquer might help.”

“Delosand Samos have requested an inspection. At least they were nice aboutit,” Major Letterman drawled. “There has been no sign of anything when ourpeople were there before,” he said checking the records. “We didn't do athorough check of Samos though. How about I send a couple squads to them? Andwe set up a filter for any actual sightings while we place units in strategicplaces to respond?”

“Goodin theory, question is, where do we get the units? I'm having a hell of a timejust filling the ships the navy is turning out,” the Marine replied with ashake of his head. Despite starting earlier than the army recruiting, theMarines were getting out recruited by something like three to one. A lot of thepeople in Tau were grounders and wanted to stay that way.

“Ah,well, as to that, we have some grunts in the pipeline. Do you think we can do ajoint operation? Some of your veterans with my noobs? At least until I can getsome wiser heads somehow? Right now Rho, Pi, and Sigma are drawing the best andbrightest.”

“Tellme about it. We're sucking hind teat too,” the Neochimp said sourly. He gave achoppy nod. “Let me get back to you on that. It sounds good in practicethough.”

“Right.”

Lil Red Rest in Peace

 Beware the Ides of March indeed.

Today has been a very sucky day. Rainy, but also just bad.

I'd first like to pass my condolences on to Ayden and his family, loosing your little brother too today, damn, that sucks. Big Zen hugs.

Lil Red, inspiration for Lil Red the character, died today on the operating table. She was almost 9. (I am terrible with dates and names so I got a rough estimate based on the photos.) I am basing that on the kitten shots of her at Thanksgiving 2014.

Red was born under the stumps in my backyard. Her mother was a stray, she kept having litters there in the pile of wood. I had animal control come for them twice when I saw how bad they were. The third litter I started feeding mom and trying to socialize her in order to get her and her next litter adopted.

Red was born fire engine red, opposite to her sister Lil White who was a snow white. She got her name from my sister and I when she saw the little minx. I didn't know she'd turn blond a little while later. I used to go out and feed them at night and then read in a chair and pick the kittens up. They'd cuddle with me under my jacket while I read a book until midnight.

 

After a while they were used to the routine. I went out to feed them one morning and turned around, puzzled that Red wasn't around. When I went back inside she was sitting there cocking her head with the "I'm moving in" expression. She loved to cock her head at me.

 She also loved to mess that damn thing up. All the time. I'd go fix it, and within 30 seconds she'd have it bunched up or she'd be a furry burrito in it, purring at me with her tail sticking out one end.

She earned the nickname 'Squirel Girl' because of the way she carried her tail. She was fun, mischievous, perverse, lovable, cuddly, perverse... adorable... lol Did I mention perverse?

She loved to terrorize the boys. She also loved to cuddle with them.

When we decided to take her in I got her spayed and vaccinated. The vets said she popped for FLEV, Feline Leukemia. The virus, not the actual disease. They wanted me to put her down, said she'd only live a max of 2 years. I refused and got her vaccinated anyway. She outlived that prediction by quite a bit.  I'm proud of her. (I did mention perverse right?)

There is so much to remember about her. Like how she had the routine down cold. How I'd pick her up and do squats with her during my morning exercise routine. How each time I'd go to poo I had to tip toe and hope she'd be asleep or preoccupied. Otherwise she'd knock wire ties and toys under the door and then stick her paw under and try to get me to play. (Fun when you are bent over trying to poo and reach for something!)

She'd grab Loki's tail and drag it under and get him thrashing. His tail would be dancing and she'd have her paws under the door trying to grab it. And I'd be laughing.

I'm going to miss her having a fit every time I went outside to get the mail or whatever.

I'm going to miss her at the other side of the shower door having a fit because I was getting wet. Clawing at the glass, then pouncing on the towel later. She loved playing with towels and blankets!

Even when she was sick she did it. She'd purr and pounce on my q-tip as I missed the basket, then pounce on the towel as I tried to dry off. I was allowed the other half to dry my legs. Gee, thanks.

It is a shock to loose her. She was so young, so full of life.

She started to go downhill last month. We thought it was a tooth issue but she didn't get over it. February 28th I brought her in, the doctor said there was no problem with her teeth, she was anemic and had a tumor and an IG infection. The anemia and IG infection diagnosis were false. She also beat Leukemia, she was negative.

I got a second opinion, and they recommended another vet.

Last week we brought her in for an ultrasound to a different vet. Friday they confirmed she had a tumor the size of a baseball on her spleen. Nursing her was getting harder and harder, she flat out refused to eat and drank a lot of water. She hid whenever I came to her.

The doctor convinced me to go ahead with the surgery. This morning she was purring her head off. She'd cuddled with dad so much that he didn't have the heart to move her and when he got up to pee he went and slept in his chair afterward.

She was purring and talking to me like she was okay.We had a thing, I'd say hi and she'd meh a hi back to me. It always tickled me when she did that.

Given her age she should be okay or so they said. But she was terribly weak and skin and bones except for the massive gut. She hadn't eaten more than a teaspoon in days and hadn't pooped either. We dropped her off hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. But the Vet called a short time ago and said that the tumor had been attached to her colon, not her spleen. The risks were high. I told him to give her a shot and he tried. But she went unstable. They revived her twice and called me and told me that she was failing, there was nothing more they could do. That was... it.

... it sucks.

Boy do I miss her already. I miss her chasing balls all over the house and driving me batty, scampering about, miss her climbing the cat tower, cuddling with me, kneading (even getting a claw stuck in my nipple more times than I can count!) I am going to miss that. 

I am going to miss her climbing into the pantry and trilling at me when she wanted something. And that damn head cock. I'm going to miss it.

I am getting frustrated with people who are already pushing me to get another pet. That started when she first got sick and I'm getting it now when she hasn't been dead 2 hours. She was my friend damn it, not disposable! Not something to toss and get another. She mattered. She mattered to me.

She will be missed by a lot of people, but especially me.

Bootstrap Colony 4 Reboot is a go!

 So, the book went live yesterday afternoon.

  Mitch Chambers and his merry band have been busy. Teams have been hard at work building a new civilization while also knitting the far flung communities together. The alien Memes have stuck around, and finally the engineering team has started building a shuttle for the return visit to Earth.

 However not all is well in some of the communities. The Asian community is about to receive an unwanted visit by aliens. Other communities struggle with their identity. Mitch and his friends and family have to wonder if now is the right time for him to go to Earth and try to save their home world…

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXFP5G2W

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/reboot-chris-hechtl/1143161178?ean=2940185666739.

BSC 4 Snippet 4

 Sitrep:

So, I hit a snag with getting Goodlifeguide to format the manuscript. There is a delay, it is out of my hands. So we're looking at a mid March launch.

So, bummer.

Anyway, on to the snippet!

 

 

Base

 

Brian continued moving forward with construction of the second apartment complex. The process was easier the second time around since they knew the process and logistics better. The basic floor plan was the same, but a little more complex because the architect wanted more design variation. She patiently explained to an exasperated Mitch and Brian that modern design wasn’t just visually boring—it was displeasing to the brain. “The brain needs stimulation. Your mood changes when you see something with more to it than flat gray walls.”

A lot of the changes she proposed were minor. Awning covers in some areas that also served to break up the outline, some additional paneling to the exterior, and the sandblasting of bands. Paint was on the to-do list as well.

Inside there was to be a living wall of green along with a waterfall. Those would be pretty and appealing though Henry complained about the plumbing and the potential for leaks and mold.

The building itself still had the same footprint, a four-story rectangle with the basement. It was at a slight twenty-degree angle from the first apartment and connected by a sky bridge on the third floor to the original. There were some other changes, however. Above the second floor, they went with steel and larger windows. That meant there was less concrete but more armored glass. Balconies were nixed by Phyllis as a security risk. They were also too hard to implement since they would have to be cantilevered into the structure and that might compromise the engineering. No one wanted a long delay to run simulations to see if they’d work.

The first floor went up quickly but they were stalled on the second for a bit until truss segments were shipped in from Iron Town and flown into place. Once that happened, they began to move on to the next set of walls while the floor and utilities were run.

Brian repeatedly commented that he was glad Janet and the others who had harassed him had their own apartments and were not involved. Janet ruffled his hair when she overheard him and hugged him.

>>>*<<<

Candy Summerset surveyed the vehicle lines with a mixed feeling. Vehicle orders had tapered off a bit. The bulk of the orders over the winter had been for farm and construction equipment. Several communities like Fortress wanted to field their own road crews but the expense was daunting.

She was grateful for the reprieve and slower workload though she felt like they could do more. Aircraft orders had also dropped off. They had just the one replacement Antonov on the books. They had talked about building another Hercules but that had been nixed for the time being. The focus was on the space plane at the moment.

She hoped things changed soon. She didn’t need the frantic pace from the previous year, but some variety might be nice.

They had begun building crate motors and battery packs for orders and for later use. There were also some calls for more generators and replacement parts for legacy vehicles from Earth. Her husband Bill was handling those though. There were a lot of calls for fuel-making equipment. Bill and the chemists had worked out two systems—one to filter and process the vine pods, another that could make ethanol and ethylene with power, hydrogen, and some other ingredients. There was a third variation of the second design that could output straight methane but there were few engines that could burn it properly.

>>>*<<<

Fortress

 

Carlos looked around and then down to the soil around them. They had finally filled in the holes from the giant gusano, worms as Joe called them. That had taken valuable planting time before it had been finished. But now the plants were wilting in those areas.

He checked the soil and stuck his hand in it to feel how wet it was. He felt something moving under it and thought it was just bugs and worms but then something latched onto his hand and bit hard.

He screamed and yanked his hand out and screamed at the thing attached to it. The long whip like thing thrashed in the air. Other people turned to him. He clutched at his arm and then tried to pound the thing with the pistol handle.

The thing finally let go but not before taking several of his fingers. He sobbed in pain, clutching the mangled limb to his chest as he stomped the thing. Other people arrived and stared horrified before they too tried to stomp the thing. Then more of the worms began to appear in the soil so they made a hasty retreat.

>>>*<<<

Joe reported the incident to Base as Carlos received treatment. He was concerned about infection. It was a bloody mess, and he’d kept his distance. The poor guy had lost three of his fingers and his thumb.

“The worms?” Maggie asked. When he’d mentioned a worm problem, Pete had called Maggie in first. Mitch was out on the perimeter. He could talk through his phone but was a bit distracted.

“Yeah.”

“Huh.”

“Perhaps the soft wet soil of spring allowed them to burrow? Or did these hatch from eggs?” an unfamiliar male voice interjected.

“Both are possible. Can we get a sample?” Maggie asked.

“That’s not a problem. The problem is we’ve got too many. That field is coveredin them and compromised. The same for the pasture. They are on the outskirts but that is a problem.” He’d seen a chicken wander into the field and get torn apart.

There was a long silence. “So, what are you going to do?” Maggie asked.

“I don’t know but we have to do something. Diego wants to burn those fields but that won’t get into the ground.”

“Let me think about it,” the male voice said.

“Electricity,” another more familiar voice said over the radio.

“Ah …”

“This is Curt. Haven’t any of you gone fishing?” the islander asked.

“Ah, yes…?”

“Of course!” Ducky said with the sound of snapping fingers.

“Use an electric probe. A long metal rod. Stick it into the ground as deep as you can and then send an electric current through it. The worms will rise to the surface. You can then kill them,” Curt told them.

Joe nodded and hastily grabbed a pad of paper and made some notes. He suddenly felt a little better about the situation.

>>>*<<<

BSC4 Snippet 3

 Sitrep:

So, I received the manuscript back from Rea. I'm working on sending it to Goodlifeguide.

In other news, I finished the cover to J8:

 

It looks like I didn't post the Tauren Invasion cover:

 

 Tauren Invasion will be coming out in 2 months or so.

On to the snippet!

Chapter 3

 

True spring began with a series of storms. There was rain during the day but as the temperatures dropped the rain turned into a slushy snow. It turned the communities into a mess for several weeks.

Maggie had problems with the animals in the pastures getting stuck in the muck. She eventually had to restrict some of the species to the barns for a little while until the sun dried the muck up a bit. She grumbled about needing more drainage.

>>>*<<<

Mitch sipped coffee in the conservatory as he watched the sun slowly rise. He had been cuddling with Sandra until she’d been woken with a request for a radio consultation. Tucker had spent the night with a friend to give his parents some rare quality time together.

He saw shadows pass and looked up to the sky to see a flock of avians pass by. A massive shadow dived on one flock and batted some to the ground in the field nearby.

His eyes went wide as he saw a massive Pterosaur chomp one smaller avian and then peck and then rip off pieces of another it had landed on. He took his phone out and held it up to record the event.

“Don’t see that every day,” he murmured as he continued to take sips of coffee.

>>>*<<<

Phyllis had to make a regular thing for security to chase off avians. It was four or five times a day, especially around the barns, food storage, and of course the airport. “You can tell it is winter when they return and begin to shit everywhere and cause havoc,” Phyllis complained as she came into the great room after washing up.

Anne nodded. The ground animals had a tighter poop. Some of the avians had a wet poop almost diarrhea, a common problem in waterfowl like ducks. They sprayed it everywhere, including on the buildings and if possible, on the unwary. Lisa was constantly complaining about having to clean equipment and vehicles. The poop was nasty, it ate into paint fast.

It wasn’t very pleasant for the unwary either. Four people had been splattered by poop from the air. One had gotten an infection from the nasty stuff. One of Brian’s construction crew had been driven off from an area by a pair of birds that had been spraying poop and dive bombing.

It had turned out they had set up a nest in a nook. The decision had been made to leave them until the nest was clear and then seal up the nook to prevent a repeat.

Brian’s team were working with the plastics team to produce spikes that were placed on any surface the avians wanted to occupy. The avians hated them and avoided them.

“You heard about the blockage at the apartment?”

Phyllis blinked. “Ah… no?”

“Air vent to the plumbing. A couple of critters got up under the cap, chewed their way through the wire mesh and then into the pipe. They found an elbow and created a nest. Miguel and Henry were called in when the plumbing in that section started to act up. It took them a while to find the nest and clear it.”

“Oh. Lovely.”

“Yeah. They are persistent,” Anne sighed. Phyllis nodded.

>>>*<<<

As soon as the ground warmed and the spring rains passed the convoys were out running. They had started runs during the later stage of winter when the roads were clear. Paul had each of the 3 convoys keep a snow plow on the lead vehicle and at least 1 cow catcher.

Ignacio did the same in the south though the roads were not as well built there. They were limited to runs to Prairie and East for the time being.

Sam showed up at Base during the second week of spring after the equinox. Jack had wanted him to stick around Copper Town until after the planting but he had refused. They had cleaned up the road to the mill and to the mine but then kicked off to get busy elsewhere to get ahead of the migrations.

Sam’s crew worked on the road to Base for a week and finished setting up the bridges. They had learned to pull the bridges before winter in order to prevent them from being washed out by the spring flooding.

The ribbon bridges were kept on high ground near the bridge site during the long winter. Only minor repairs had to be made to the footings at each crossing before the pieces were put back in place. Sam's crew passed Gary on the way to Copper Town on his first run. They finished up the cleanup of the road and then moved on the roads north.

Sam was determined to concrete the road to Iron Town and work on the roads beyond that year. Mike had offered him a bonus if he could do it. Mike wanted to be able to travel the road year round, including during the winter to Base, something about ice road trucking.

In order to pull it off they needed a lot of concrete and gravel however. He needed to sit down and talk to Brian and Mitch about that. He was aware that there was a lot of competition for both for the construction projects at the base.

>>>*<<<

BSC 4 Snippet 2

 Sitrep:

So, still sorting things out with Rea.

  I am struggling with the J8 cover, I've had 2 false starts so far. Unusual for me, I've only had that problem twice.

  In other news I'm pretty irate over my phone disabling my MP3 player. I admit, I'm a bit of a Luddite so I don't like streaming on my phone. I text, make calls, take pictures, and play my music. Oh, and use the calculator and notepad. That is IT. No games, no movies, no streaming. No Google store. (which still uses gigs of data a month for some reason even though I don't have it linked to my Google account or drive.) 

  The great Google gods disabled the music player this morning and the phone says I "have to delete my MP3s and sign up for Youtube music streaming," and oh, pay if I want it ad free.

  I don't stream. Period. Why would I stream something I have on the damn device? I just need it to exercise with. Ten songs, that is it. GRR. Besides, to stream I have to increase my bandwidth which means my phone bill will triple in price. PASS.

  I'm looking into downloading an alternative FREE app now. Either that or buying a cheap MP3 player. I hate corporate crap like that. Why can't people leave shit well enough alone? "Adapt, change is good." Yeah, in some circumstances I get that, but I'm also a firm believer in:

 "IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T "FIX" IT!!!"

 GRR.

 Let's squeeze as much money out as we can! GRR. $5.99 a month, $13.99 a month... grrr...

Rant over.

Anyway, here is the snippet:

 

Chapter 2

 

Jacklynn was grateful that Akira finally installed the new rotors for the Skycrane. The bird wasn’t used often but she hated having it down for any length of time.

The process of making the new rotors had gotten Akira and Candy to make a couple of spares. Each had been carefully balanced. They had also made a run of spare components, all common parts. She was pretty certain it was with an eye to making another helicopter in the future.

At the moment there weren’t many calls for helicopters or air cars. They were short ranged birds and had limited utility. A drone could fill the surveillance role easily without risking a large craft and a precious pilot.

The only real call for a helicopter was as an air ambulance. She hoped they would look into that soon but with so many other projects going on, she doubted it.

>>>*<<<

Mitch took a tour of the school section within the base. It had been expanded after the first exodus to the first apartment complex. The hallway was lined with posters and pictures that the kids had made.

He looked in a window in a door and smiled as he saw his son. Tucker was chronologically 5 Terran years but hit all the marks for an 11 year old. He was enjoying school and seemed to suck it up like a sponge. He also looked more and more like Mitch. It was a little spooky to some people. He tried to think of his son as just that his son, though he had most of the same genetic package.

Most in that he was 99 percent Mitch’s genetic package but the memes had added something to make him grow faster than normal and some giant cell in his reproductive system to manage that. They knew that the one in women intercepted sperm and then created the clones. They were not so certain about what the one in the males did however.

It was just one more question for the scientists to solve. He returned his attention to the school, watching the kids as they did a math lesson. His son looked in his direction and he waved before moving on. He didn’t want to distract or embarrass the kid.

Kathy had restructured the school system. The kids learned the basics, reading, writing, math, health, first aid, and science, but along with them computer skills, animal identification and avoidance, art, music, and history. History was more of a general history of the world as well as the history of their present world.

She loved to put in new discoveries during science time.

Geography class was limited to the basics about what hills and mountains were, continents, and so on. Mitch remembered having to memorize every state, every capital, then countries, capitals, and major cities around the world. It had been tedious. The syllabus was more focused on their present world. The other 11 continents were mentioned but the geography lesson was focused on their continent and communities.

He envied Tucker and the kids. They just had to memorize 23 communities.

He also envied them for not having to get into specifics on some subjects. A lot of the knowledge they had to memorize when he had been a kid was redundant. Who needed to know the name and location of every river in the world? Knowledge was easily accessible on the net. Kathy was focusing on teaching the kids to access that knowledge and think for themselves.

“They are growing up so fast,” Josie murmured, nodding her chin the classrooms.

Too fast,” Mitch murmured. He felt a bit of resentment over his son and the other kids losing their childhood and being forced to grow up so fast. He hoped they didn’t age too fast later in life. Cassie and the other doctors were supposed to be looking into it sometime soon.

Josie nodded.

“Are you considering having a kid soon?”

She grimaced. “I’ve got to find a guy first,” she said with an eye roll. “You lot like to get killed off here or snagged.”

He snorted. She was one of the former long term patients that had been in hospice care. She had been a part of Chief Robert’s drop and community. She and others like Mary and Charlie had been badly chewed up by the shark hounds during their run to Copper Town.

She’d spent years getting her wound packed and her body hooked up to machines until Cassie had intervened. Cassie’s determination to not just accept things as they were but to redress them had awakened many to the possibilities of the new world. She had learned cutting edge regenerative medicine with the hopes of helping her own rebuilding but also her friends.

Josie was a case in point. She’d lost a good chunk of her torso from a bite. There had been too much to replace so the wound had been open. It had been gruesome. Sandra had tried to do something about it but had failed.

Cassie however had worked with Ducky to essentially industrialize regenerative medicine. They had cultured stem cells in vast quantities from each patient, and then grown what was needed to rebuild them.

Once she was on her feet Josie had stepped up her work with the school and college.

“Well, if you can’t find someone and still want a kid there is always the frozen popsicles. And Cassie has made it so you can choose if you want to have a clone or a normal kid or even carry an independent fetus to term,” he said.

She nodded. “I dunno. I’m thinking about it,” she said. He nodded. “I just got my life back you know? I may take a year or so to really get my feet under me.”

“No pressure,” he assured her with a smile. “Sorry if I sounded like I was.”

“What about you?”

He snorted. “Sandra is about to go walk about again.” She nodded. Everyone knew about the upcoming launch of Mercy Flight II in the late spring. “I doubt she’d want to travel pregnant and morning sick.”

Josie made a disgusted face at the idea and nodded again.

“Still,” he turned back to Tucker’s classroom. “It would be nice to give Tucker another sibling before he’s too old to appreciate it. Not that he doesn’t love Cassie and vice versa.”

She smiled softly.

“Anyway, any problems?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Just a question about the school and college. Are they going to be constructed this year?”

He nodded. “That’s the plan. But plans change and I understand that Brian has been ‘convinced’ to build the next apartment complex early.”

“Convinced?” she asked as she wrinkled her nose at him.

He snorted. “Let’s just say the 2 ladies he’s with did the convincing.”

Josie blinked and then chuckled.

“Granted having a kid with them in that small apartment suite probably pushed things further along,” he said as he cocked his head. Josie nodded. Caroline was growing like a weed. She definitely had lungs though; Mitch had heard her bawl several times when she’d been teething.

Gina passed them and waved her new hand. Josie grinned. ‘Still breaking it in?”

Gina nodded. She did her best to wiggle her fingers. They moved though slowly. “It’s a work in progress.”

“Keep on it. The more you move it the more you’ll get used to it,” Josie said.

“Oh I know. Agnes gave me homework to do while she was back home. I’ve been doing it as much as I can,” Gina said. She pulled a little red heart out and made a show of squeezing it. “See?”

Josie nodded.

“I don’t think you are up for arm wrestling just yet but eventually,” Mitch quipped. Gina snorted.

“I’ll settle for texting and typing,” Gina said. “And being able to shoot,” she said as she indicated the pistol in the holster on her hip.

“I thought you learned to use your other hand?” Mitch asked.

“I did. But the chief wants me to use both. Phyllis too,” Gina replied. Mitch nodded as Josie crossed her arms. “Are we going to build an indoor range sometime in the near future?” Gina asked.

Mitch smirked. “Why? Don’t like going out in the cold?”

Gina leveled a look on him. “Damn straight!”

He chuckled. “Well, we could set up something. Maybe in that cavern you lost the original hand in… think we could have centipedes to target practice with?”

She shuddered. “Don’t even go there. Though I’d love to blast some of the bastards into goo,” she growled. “Arby set up a video game for me to do that last year. It was good therapy.”

Mitch blinked and then nodded. “Well, I hope you never have to face that situation again. But hopefully if you are in it you will survive it.”

“That’s the plan,” Gina said dryly as she waved her new hand again and then took herself off.

Josie nodded politely to him and then went back to the office. Mitch nodded back and then went back to doing his rounds.

>>>*<<<

BSC 4 Snippet 1

 Sitrep:

So, I just finished Jethro 8, At the Crossroads Tuesday. It is in the hands of the first Betas. If any other Beta wants it, let me know. :)

 Speaking of crossroads, I was trying to decide on which book to send to Rea next. BSC 4 or Tauren Invasion. I finally settled on BSC4 a moment ago. She has the manuscript now.

So, I get to work on the cover to J8 and ulp, my taxes. 😅

Chapter 1

 

Base

 

Winter had socked the continent with a couple extra weeks of snow, making everyone weary of the white and ready for spring. Everyone seemed like they were champing at the bit to get moving. There had been no reports of famine and no deaths. There had been a handful of frostbite and pneumonia cases but they had been treated.

The distribution of medical supplies had helped immensely. So had the good harvests during the warm months of the year, and the trade for warm winter clothing.

Mitch Chambers looked at the list he had and sighed softly. There were still a few long term things on it he was keeping tabs on. He saw movement behind him and glanced at the meme bobbing like a jellyfish nightlight. He snorted and went back to his ruminating.

Jacklynn had reluctantly recovered Ciara and Tariq from their island of exile. The fact that the 2 ladies had survived when the men had not spoke about their survival skills and stubbornness. That had sparked a problem though; both the Fortress and Tropics had not wanted them to return to their communities.

Joe had been concerned that Ciara would challenge him over time, and would eventually fall into bad habits and become a bad influence to his community. Neal had said something along the same lines. The 2 ladies had eventually been offered a place in the East Europe and Russian communities. Sydney and the 2 children had gone with Ciara to live in New Siberia. Jake had remained behind in the Fortress to remain in the home that had been built for the family.

He shook his head. By all reports the ladies were quiet and keeping their heads down. Tariq had settled into the East European community and worked on any task they gave her without complaint. Ciara was much the same. Both ladies had put on some weight over the winter.

His mind turned to home. Cassie had survived her pregnancy and the birth of her son. His wife had been furious over her daughter’s actions and she’d taken steps with Brian to lock down the reproductive lab to prevent a repeat. Not that Cassie seemed eager to have another baby anytime soon.

Jack had lost half a dozen people to Base last year and was not happy at hemorrhaging people. Not that he’d put their skills to use. The Fuentes were happy in the zoo and Jessica Walker was having a ball at the Base. They did talk with their old community and friends regularly. Jessica had said she was more than willing to consult on architectural buildings if Jack ever got off the stick and moved forward on a project.

For the moment the young woman was driving Brian up a tree about various projects and making eyes at visiting the Han Village and maybe others as well.

Jack was not happy about Mussad making eyes at Ishtar. The quiet Islamic woman was his only teacher and damn good at her job. But she was lonely and she was interested in visiting the Middle Eastern Village. So far Jack had refused to countersign her leaving.

He had stopped short of saying he’d keep her. He’d just refused to fly her out on one of his community’s planes. Mitch shook his head. He knew that denial was a bad thing. Denying the lady what she wanted bred resentment and anger over time. Letting her go for a visit or hell, to stay would be better. He’d heard a few stories about the middle eastern village. It was definitely not a western lady’s cup of tea. She might or might not want to settle there. It all depended on how religious she was and how determined she was to be with her own culture.

He didn’t know the lady and it wasn’t his problem so he shrugged such concerns aside.

Jolie had started a help wanted page when some communities had asked for one skilled person or another. That had sparked some interest from the kids in school at the base. But when they looked into the communities and their amenities they hadn’t been impressed enough to want to go there. That might or might not change in time.

>>>*<<<

Jessica Walker walked around the base and then back to her office. It was cramped and small, but it was hers. It was also better than the little cubby she’d had in Copper Town.

She sniffed.

Things were so much different at Base than at Copper Town. She’d heard about it but hadn’t taken the plunge until she’d heard about the apartment complex. She’d listened to Jack and Hera promise soothingly that they’d do more at Copper but when they hadn’t followed through she’d finally pulled the trigger.

She had no regrets. None.

She wanted to make more advanced buildings and use her skills to make her mark. They had consulted her over the years, but now she was hands on. She had even proposed a few changes to make things look better and less dull. She had proposed a few other buildings too. She really wanted to make her mark on things and not just build another damn tavern.

At the moment she was researching the Seattle Library. The building had been built with all sorts of innovations like a micro sunshade. Layers of glass and then an aluminum mesh and then air and more glass made up a glass wall. The mesh was so fine it looked transparent. But angles are made so it blocked the afternoon sun and keeps the room from becoming a greenhouse during the summer.

That was fine, but she wasn’t so certain about how that would help in winter. Winters were cold in Seattle though, so they had to have done something.

So far she had been trying to model the system with her computer. She had a desktop, they promised her access to the servers in time but for the moment they were being used for the space program. She didn’t begrudge it.

It would be nice though to have additional computer support though.

The micro shade was just one project. She was also looking into an articulating roof structure for the college, something that would open and close like a Venus fly trap. That idea had come from a college building in Florida.

She had all sorts of ideas to explore. Living walls, maybe something from Singapore… and of course ways to put her own personal stamp on things.

And Base was just one community. She had picked up feelers from other communities like Fortress, the Europeans, and Crash town. Even Bottom’s Up had inquired about her skills. She smiled to herself. Eventually she’d be famous and have her own suite in her own personally designed mansion.

Her computer blinked and said it was finished. She glanced at it and then settled in to check the results, daydreams of the future forgotten for the moment.

>>>*<<<

Fortunes of War has Published!

 Yep, it is out. Sorry for the long delay. Stick around for the epilogue in it!

About:

  The Federation is pulled in different directions. Admiral Irons and the newly resurrected Federation are now dealing with a war on 2 fronts. The pirate war continues to simmer in the eastern reaches of the Sigma sector.  The Tauren War has heated up to boiling and is threatening to boil over as the sector capital comes under attack.

Meanwhile Admiral Irons has problems of his own within the government. Unpredictable forces are at play all over the galaxy…

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRNWTP5H

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fort...