Chris Hechtl's Blog, page 14

FOW Snippet 1

 Sitrep:

  So, Loki is doing better, the vet called and said his blood work was shockingly clean (for a cat who is 20!) except for minor elevations in his kidney function. So, whatever he's got he's hopefully coming out of it soon. He is going to be on a form of dialysis for a month. His second treatment is this afternoon.

  So, that is a relief. He's been sick for the past week and depressing me. He's my buddy. Whenever I have anything in my hand (pen, pencil, screwdriver, etc) he would try to cheek rub it driving me crazy. lol

  In other news, Rea got a late start on FOW so it will be a slightly longer wait for it. BSC3 is ready for her too, (no you can't see it until late November or early December) and BSC4 is in the hands of the last 2 Betas.

I am trying to get a lot of deferred stuff cleared from my To-Do list before I look at Tauren Invasion again next week. :) Fun.

Anyway, on to the snippet!

Chapter 1

 

SG65-8, Sigma Sector

 

Captain Cathy Kopper smirked as the ship she was tailing seemed ready to jump into hyperspace. They were slowing down and her ship was now closing ground. "Gotcha now," she said. She turned to the navigator station. "Do you have a lock on where they are going?"

"No ma'am."

She blinked and then her eyes narrowed. "What?"

"There are no jumps in this direction. The closest along this line is 66. There is nothing there, it is another destroyed system. In fact it is a dead end."

"So... are we near the end of the line and close to El Dorado?" the captain asked hopefully.

The navigator shook his head in a negative.

The captain's face fell. "Why the hell not?"

"We're well outside the search zone ma'am. Whoever is over there is taking a jump we don't know about. It is a wild goose chase."

The captain scowled. Putting herself in the shoes of the enemy captain, that made sense, she wouldn't lead someone back to her classified base if she could help it. If she wasn't killed by one side her own people definitely would do the job when they found out.

She shook herself to discard the thought. "Get a recon drone out there to get another perspective," she said as she turned to the tactical department. The more platforms they had out there the more viewing angles and the higher the probability of identifying the star the enemy was headed for. Or at least their jump line.

"Drive charging," the sensor tech at the CIC station reported. "Calculating charge... Four minutes to Bogy One jump," she warned.

"We're seventeen light minutes away. It's already happened," the XO warned quietly to the captain.

The captain scowled but then gave a choppy nod.

"Do you want the drone to be launched anyway? Ma'am?" the TO asked.

"Yes!" she practically barked. "Get it out there, get as many eyes on where they are going as possible!"

"Aye aye ma'am," the lieutenant replied as he ordered the drone to be launched.

>>><><<< 

Ariel-X felt relief as the ship entered hyperspace smoothly. She felt the thrill of success, it was like their narrow escape in the previous star system.

She was tired, she'd been on duty for sixteen hour shifts, all to try to squeeze as much speed as possible out of the ship. It hadn't done much though, the enemy had been ahead of them and waiting when they'd jumped out. But they'd managed to dodge their trap and they were now free.

She still didn't like flying blind but the jumps were getting easier, especially if she took into account a possible stop. Which she had, star system SR66XL. She had jumped from there once before so she had enough waypoints to make a short jump.

Once they arrived near that dead system they could take their time to orient on the next jump to 72.

"We're away sir. Enemy has not picked us up," the XO reported to the captain.

"Very good," the captain drawled. "Excellent even." His eyes fell on the reason for their successful escape, the mermaid in the tube nearby. She was little more than a child, actually pre-pubecent. He knew that some in her crew lusted for that sort but he had strict orders to protect and coddle her.

Now he fully understood why. He hoped the crew did as well.

It had been seven and a half months from their successful raid on Tortuga and the gate complex. He'd picked up word during their last resupply stop at a cache several months ago. He had orders to return to El Dorado with his full cargo holds and latest intelligence but he'd been forced off the track by the nosy Federation cruiser. The cruiser had picked up his ship's trail several jumps ago and they'd had a devil of a time shaking her. Hopefully this jump would do the trick.

They had followed protocol and headed south into the lower reaches of the sector to avoid leading the enemy to the pirate base. But now his ploy should allow them to escape fully and get back on track.

"Good work one and all," he said with a nod to the cybernetic mermaid. She flicked her tail and her long dainty fingers danced as she continued to guide the ship. Her lips did curve briefly up into a smile though.

"See that she gets rewarded," he said in an aside to the XO. "And let's try to squeeze as much speed out as we can. There is no telling what we'll run into in 72. I want to get back on track before we're declared lost and our codes changed," he said.

"Aye aye sir."

>>><><<< 

FOW and sitreps

 Sitrep:

So, FOW is in the hands of Rea, she will get started on it sometime this week. BSC3 is ready for her, and I finished BSC4 over the weekend. 

I am considering trying to squeeze one more book in this year, Tauren Invasion a short story series with the Marines and Army units during the Tauren War.

 Here are the covers so far:

Fortunes Of War again:

 That is the main Engineering series.

BSC3:

Some sharp people might have noticed I've already posted the image on another platform. :)

I adapted Herschel Hoffmeyer's T-Rex tack set for his Carnotaurus. The raptor should be recognizable from BC2. :)

BSC4 cover wip: (as of 20 minutes ago)

Yeah, I had fun with those. FYI the sharks are not mine, I tweaked a Behometh model rather than use the ones I modeled ages ago. (easier to pose though they lack the hammerhead)

The shuttle isn't quite what I had in mind but it was what I had on hand. :)

That is it for now!

I will be posting snippets of FOW in the coming days.

Full Court Press Publishing NOW!

 So, we had a couple of hiccups in the initial launch, but we got it sorted out. To the lone person who managed to squeak in and snap up a copy before I took it off sale: Sorry about the formatting. Refresh it and it should be good now.

  The Federation was ambushed by the Tauren Confederation in the opening moves of what some call the Second Tauren War. Not to be deterred, the Federation played for time by administering some crippling blows in the early stages of the war.

  Now the gloves have come off and the Taurens are sending a freight train of heavy metal straight at the Federation sector capital. The Federation however is now ready to meet them in a clash of wills or, as some would call it A Full Court Press…

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFJP5115

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

FSP Snippet 5

 Sitrep: So, I'm through act II of BSC 3, into the first couple of chapters of act III and it is coming together. But, (There is always a but!) I'm doing a number on my hands. I've done a couple of days of 3-4 chapters (average chapter 10 pages) so yeah. My right hand and wrist do not like me right now, especially my right index finger. I'm letting my zeal get the better of me. lol

We may have a name for BSC3: Rejuvenation. (The runner up was Reboot)

Anyway, on to the snippet!

 

Tau-Bin63A4

 

Rear Admiral Glaze Eru set his tablet down with a soft tap. He was concerned about the emails from his fellow officers in Rho. They were armchair quarterbacking him and it bugged him. They were also sending hints that he should play nice with Fourth Fleet since the general tenor from the Admiralty was that he would be joining them shortly.

He grimaced. He didn't want an assignment in Fourth. He wanted to go back to Third and eventually Bek where his family was. But as usual the Navy didn't care about his thoughts and needs. Their needs were paramount. He had known that signing up and had accepted it when Bek had been its own little universe. Now it was a bit wearing.

Chelsea, a former squadron mate and now a CAG in First Fleet, had asked him pointedly if he'd mingled the flight crews from Fourth Fleet to cross-pollinate. He was annoyed that she had pointed it out to him. It was something he should have done.

He rubbed his jaw and made a mental note to have some sort of training swap soon. The distance would be an issue though, so they'd have to ship over a crew from Fourth to him and have them in the sims to pass on what they knew. He scratched his chin thoughtfully and then began to write the email.

When he was finished, he shot it off into the net to his chief of staff. He then turned to the most recent email from Dapper.

Lieutenant Commander “Dapper Dan” Furgeson, his old wingman, had sent him an email about the big blow up in BuPers and Admiral Irons. Apparently, the admiral had played favorites with his own people again and was coming down hard on the rest of the navy for not promoting his select people.

He scratched his jaw again. That logic seemed right on the surface, but he knew there was more to the story. He'd heard about Janice being put up for a promotion. He'd also heard that others in Fourth Fleet had as well. Some had been denied too.

Given how fast Fourth Fleet was growing and how much of a pain it was to get personnel out to them, he didn't understand the reasoning behind denying them the promotions. Some damn well deserved it. Sure they'd taken some lumps but he'd gone over what Janice had done in her scrapes. She had followed the letter of her ROE. Her Rules of Engagement had specified not risking her command and falling back after bleeding the enemy. It had been an organized retreat not a defeat and route. The boards had sat on each engagement already and cleared her.

And yet he'd heard from Dan that the admiral was pissed that she'd been denied because of her retreats. He didn't think that was fair. He had to admit he was looking forward to earning his spurs finally, but he was a bit nervous about the lives it would cost to do so. Janice already had several times. It was natural for her to play it cautious.

Perhaps he'd been wrong to blow her off and exile her and her force to the other side of the star system. Given Rill's proximity to them, he couldn't mend the fences overnight, but he could at least try to start the process. They were after all one big navy and supposedly on the same side.

>>><><<< 

Janice had been surprised by Shelby's confidence in putting her up for promotion. She'd started to feel good about the situation until she had received the email denying her. It was apologetic, and it gave a number of points for room for improvement, so she knew it wasn't personal.

It was something of a letdown though.

She did have to wonder about things though when she heard about the flap in BuPers and Admiral Irons. There was something there about a threat to resign and Admiral Irons putting in a moratorium on promotions again. She wondered if she was at the bottom of it. There were accusations of favoritism going on, something she'd thought the navy had put in its rearview mirror.

Apparently, not though.

For the time being, that sort of political trash was far away and she was grateful for that distance. They had more important things to worry about, like Rill's task force bearing down on them and his reinforcements coming up his wake. He apparently didn't know about them because he hadn't stopped to allow them to catch-up to him along his line of march.

She felt like something should be read into that. She wasn't certain what though.

His motives bothered her. She frowned thoughtfully. It wasn't like the enemy to be that stupid. They had to know they were inviting defeat in detail if they came at them in 63 like that. By now Broken Tooth had to have gotten back to some point where he could get in contact with his chain of command.

Did their ships have problems staying in contact while in motion though? She scratched behind an ear. That was certainly a possibility, especially given that they no longer had ansibles along the front or beyond it into Federation territory. It could be a case of a late-minute addition that Rill didn't know about … but something told her no.

Her instincts said there was something else motivating Rill to push on. He was starting to become a boogeyman, a juggernaut steaming his way towards them. His force was fresh, and he'd picked up additional ships in 79 … she shook her head.

It would be okay. TF 3.5 had more ships than she'd had when she had tangled with Broken Tooth's task force. She'd found a way to break him. Eru should be able to do more of the same.

It would be nice though if Eru would consult with her pilots a bit more though. It was like he was keeping them apart because he didn't want Fourth Fleet to contaminate his units or something.

>>><><<< 

FSP Snippet 4

 Sitrep: so, BSC3 is coming along. I have the cover firmly in mind, and I'm just about to start Act III. So fun. Hopefully it goes over well. :)

On to the snippet!

Long segment!

 

 

New Tau Metropolis

 

Vice Admiral Shelby Logan was surprised when she was called in to testify before the Promotions Board. She had mixed feelings over it. She was quite frankly surprised that Janice had gotten a hearing so fast. Apparently, the navy was “striking while the iron was hot” and pushing the rebuilding pace as fast and as furious as congress would allow. Either that or something else was going on. Given that the navy was exploding with growth, she hoped it was nothing ominous.

Brad and Rupert had eased through their promotion boards without incident. She hadn't been called to testify directly; Boni and BuPers had handled the passing over of records. Falling Leaf's had been a little rocky but she'd gotten through it. A little scorched but no worse for the wear and hopefully the experience would prove her good in the future.

Thermal's promotion had caught her off guard. Apparently, the Spacebees had put him in for it. Given his recent success in Tortuga she approved of the promotion.

“Look, you are dinging her for her battle record. Honestly, I think that is a load of crap. She did the best she could with what she had. No one in their right mind should expect her to take on a Tauren battle fleet with a handful of ships! Yet she did and fought a brilliant delaying action!” She shook her head in annoyance. “I know Tau has been hind teat. We've been trying to make bricks without straw or as someone said to me recently, trying to spin straw into gold.”

“But you have to admit, she did lose and was forced to retreat,” Rear Admiral Dangar Trout pointed out.

Dengar was a Neogrizzly from Bek. He had no combat experience according to what the grapevine said.

“So? Again, she had nothing larger than a cruiser and escort carrier in her kit. Yet she fought a delaying action against one hundred times her tonnage,” she said and then wished her emphasis would get through. “May I remind you that Admiral White was also forced to retreat or stall an attack? And I can cite other examples, including Commodore Falling Leaf being forced to break the blockade Admiral Ela set up and retreat.”

She paused to survey the group. There were five senior officers, each above the rank of the candidate up for promotion. They served as a check on anyone being submitted for promotion due to a submission out of the zone or due to regular promotion opportunities due to time in grade.

There were four men and one female on this particular board. The board was led by Vice Admiral Jim Adcott, someone she didn't recognize.

She tapped an inquiry to Boni. After a moment, each of the officer bios appeared under their holographic avatar. Her eyes narrowed when she noted the home star system. They were all the same.

She had a feeling the Bekian old boys club was at play here. It was annoying. They were supposed to be above that now. Admiral Irons had come down on them several times in order to hammer the point home that they were all one big happy navy.

“She has so little combat experience …,” Rear Admiral Luna Regula complained.

“Ah? I've seen her record, and she has been in combat more than some officers who has rocketed through the ranks.”

“I meant in command.”

“She has been on patrol as a ship captain and has earned her spurs there. Unlike some other officers who have only ever faced an enemy in a simulator,” Shelby retorted.

That was a rather open shot at the officers. According to their records, none of them had combat experience yet they were dinging another officer for it.

“She spent a lot of time in academia …,” Admiral Dengar stated.

Shelby's eyes narrowed. “Teaching hyper navigation, inner system navigation, helm, as well as tactical courses at the crusher I believe. She also chaired the navigation department at the academy in Pyrax. All the while also serving as helm and navigational officer on Firefly. Your point?”

“That is actually a point in her favor. If I recall, the Pyrax academy was still being built at that time,” Admiral Adcott stated.

“If she is so good, why did she get a base commander billet over a fleet command?” Admiral Regula demanded.

“Because fleet commands are, or I should say, were nonexistent in my AO,” Shelby said testily. This time she was glad Enki didn't transmit her voice properly. “All but two positions were base command billets for flag officers.”

“The other two?”

“Home Fleet here in the capital and TF 4.4 under Commodore Falling Leaf chasing down the pirates,” Shelby replied.

“Ah.”

“And now you want to promote Commodore Yu.”

“I believe she's earned it. I have seen the record of other officers who went from captain to rear admiral in three or four years. Their ships rarely left port.  She, however, crossed into this sector as a ship captain, then served as a captain while hunting pirates before being selected for a base command. She spent the past four years as a commodore in a combat environment. I think she's earned another star. I know she can handle it.”

“Your personal feelings not withstanding?” Regula asked.

If she could have been more snide Shelby thought, irritated. “What does that mean? Yes, I served with Commodore Yu. She has served under me during this deployment and is an exemplary officer. Her record reflects that.”

“And that is time. Thank you for your input, Admiral Logan,” Admiral Adcott the chairman of the hearing stated.

“Thank you for allowing me to share it,” she replied evenly as she regained her temper.

“This concludes this hearing,” Admiral Adcott said. There was sound of a gavel.

Shelby sat back and relaxed. One by one the images of the flag officers around the table winked out until only one remained.

“And now that it is over with and everyone else is out,” Admiral Adcott said, “I hope you didn't take the adversarial approach too personally,” he stated.

Shelby blinked. “I did a bit,” she chuckled. “I'm realizing it now.”

“Ah. Well, we do have to dot the I's and cross the T's. And we have to make sure that there is no undue favoritism going on.”

“I see.”

“You did spend some time with Commodore Yu, first on Firefly and then under your command in Tau. It is only natural to favor her.”

“And yet she is a commodore. I don't see it as favoritism when other officers who lack any combat experience are flag officers now,” Shelby pointed out again.

“True, and I admit I am one of those officers. But the point stands,” Admiral Adcott stated. “So, if we bust your chops, it's nothing personal; we do it to everyone.”

“I see,” Shelby said again. She kept her voice neutral even though she knew that it would come out that way on the other side anyway.

“Okay, and now that I'm done with that, what do you think Eru's chances of holding are?” Admiral Adcott asked as he changed the subject.

Shelby grimaced. “Honestly? I'm not sure,” she said carefully. “That's no knock on him.”

“He does lack combat experience,” Admiral Adcott stated.

“Yes. And he's cocky as hell,” Shelby replied. She rolled her eyes. “And a tad stubborn and pig headed. He is a pain.”

“The whole Third Fleet versus Fourth thing. I heard about that. Some might be worried about overconfidence,” Jim said. “I know a large part of that confidence is from his time as a fighter jock.”

“Probably,” Shelby replied with a nod. She frowned. She didn't want to undermine her junior officer, even if he was a bratty stepchild on loan. “I know a lot of people think he's got it since Janice managed to finally stop Broken Tooth with far less.”

“That she did. His force is unblooded.”

“Exactly. They have no combat experience.”

“Well, a few of the pilots and crew who served against the pirates might argue with you there,” Jim replied.

Shelby nodded at the mild rebuke. There had been a light reshuffle as units from Second Fleet were occasionally promoted to other fleets to share their wealth of knowledge and grow the institution. “I'm not knocking them. I admit, I made a general statement. They do lack experience against the Taurens though. But they have trained with the information that Janice and her people as well as others had won by paying in blood and tears for.”

There was a long silence as her fellow flag officer digested that.

“True,” he finally said.

“Janice learned about Broken Tooth, and even though he was later reinforced with carriers, she still managed to attrition him. The retreat in Sparkling Seas helped to set up the victory in 63,” she said. “I am concerned about how Eru is handling things there, but I'm trying to not interfere.”

“Why?”

“It is his AO. He knows the players in his command. If he doesn't want to intermingle the two units, that is his decision. He has his reasons, and it isn't right to second-guess him and micro-manage.”

“True to some degree. But sometimes you have to give a wayward commander a mild hand slap to get them to wake up and use all of the tools in their toolbox effectively,” Jim said.

Shelby nodded. “Yes. I'll take the suggestion under advisement.”

“But you won't do it,” he said.

Shelby cocked her head. “There is an expression …”

“You can lead a horse to water?” Jim asked.

Shelby smiled. “Exactly.”

The admiral's avatar surprised her with a brief smile. Apparently, he'd either hit the emoji symbol or Enki had interpreted a real smile.

“Are you going to hold Danvers in the capital? I know she's had her share of screwups. I heard about that Cluster frack.”

Shelby frowned thoughtfully. He was referring to Danver's delay in the cluster when she's first arrived. She'd more or less forgiven it at this point. “At the moment, I'm considering it or sending her on to one of the two star systems between here and 63 to act as another roadblock if …” her voice faltered.

“If Eru screws up and is forced to fallback you mean?”

“Something like that,” Shelby said as she felt slightly lame about the statement. “No plan survives contact with the enemy.”

“Plan for all eventualities. Smart. The gate should be opening shortly though …”

“In another two months or so. It will take a bit for the eggheads to declare it stable and safe to travel.”

“Especially after our recent disaster to Pi,” Admiral Adcott said.

Shelby nodded. “I know. What happened? I read the report but dry reports do not really get all the details.”

“Essentially we tried to push the gate's size limits. We, meaning the navy, and no, I don't know why they were trying to transfer something that big to Pi. There is no need of battle line units there. We now know not to go above something the size of a monitor. Given how conservative engineers are …”

“Ahem, speaking as one I know we are conservative for a reason. Primarily because certain idiots always try to go too far …”

“Yes, well, as I was saying, the powers that be will probably restrict ship size down to monitor or possibly even super dreadnought scale.”

Shelby nodded. “So, I shouldn't plan on any welcome parties for the crews of a battle moon anytime soon? Good to know.”

She was amused to see the avatar of the admiral attempt a belly laugh. She smiled at the image.

“Funny, hilarious. I think my logistics people would have collective strokes if they tried planning a party on that scale,” Admiral Adcott said. His avatar smiled again.

Shelby grinned. “Oh, I think Dolly might be made of sterner stuff. She'd hate me, but she'd get over it. Eventually.”

“Maybe. She'll have fun with just the parties from the fleets that do come—if and when they get there,” Admiral Adcott replied as the banter began to putter out.

Shelby sobered and nodded. “True,” she said for the ansible transmission.

“Well, I'm being thumped for delaying too long. The recess is just about over, and I didn't prep for the next candidate. Take care, Shelby.”

“You too, Jim,” Shelby replied.

“See you around the galaxy,” Admiral Adcott said before the channel was cut.

Shelby sat back and steepled her fingers as she considered the conversation.

“Concerns?” Boni asked her.

“Oh, loads,” Shelby said with a sigh as she let her hands drop into her lap. “Certain parties’ overconfidence and pissing matches are just the ones at the top of the list. Do you know what is going on with the board?”

“The board in what way?”

“I know Jim said it wasn't personal but it still felt like it. Like Janice was being treated unfairly.”

“Admiral Irons lowered the hammer on the board several times over playing favorites with Bekians over veterans. The fact is Bek is the largest population center in the Federation by a large margin. So, they produce the most sailors and officers.”

“And none have combat experience. I don't like the board using her combat experience against her. Yet, they make allowances and make excuses for those who lack the same.”

“True. But those who have combat experience are the ones on the envelope. They are on the edge of the growing Federation and do not have time to politic or return to the Federation. They also get that experience largely by fighting individual battles.”

Shelby nodded. “That is SOP for cruiser action.”

“True, ma'am. But the rank and file still have that mindset that true combat doesn't occur unless it is between two fleets.”

Shelby snorted. “If someone is shooting at you, it doesn't matter if they are in a fleet or a single ship. Combat is combat.”

“True. They are as you said, paper tigers. They can spend years honing their craft in the simulators and in training exercises, but until reality smacks them in the face, it is all they have for a meterstick to prove their worth.”

Shelby nodded.

“Admiral Eru has several incidents on his record to show that he can handle a high-stress situation including time during the Bekian civil war.”

Shelby frowned but then nodded again. “I still don't like it that he hasn't taken advantage of Janice's people.”

“In what way?”

“It is something Jim pointed out. Janice has that wealth of experience. Or, I should say her people do. Her fighter and bomber pilots. Yet, he has her off guarding the Sparkling Seas jump point while his task force is arrayed around the jump point to 64.”

“You do not like the distribution of forces, ma'am?”

“I think he should be inviting the pilots and crews to intermingle and share their knowledge. Cross-pollinate as much and as quickly as possible.”

Boni cocked her virtual head but then nodded. Her principle had a habit of keeping her hands off and trying to lead by example. She usually tried to let someone learn from mistakes; after all, they were the best way to learn … as long as the mistakes weren't too painful.

At the moment though, they were in a state of war. They needed to minimize mistakes. “Yes, ma’am. To their defense they are a bit far apart. They are sharing simulator packages though.” She considered the problem and then shot a back-channel text to some of the A.I. in 63 to push the issue.

Commander Enki received the text and passed it on with a minor rolling eyes emoji in response.

Shelby nodded. “Well, at least there is that.” She slapped her thighs briefly. “So, what's next on the agenda?”

“You have an eleven o'clock meeting and then your usual working lunch.”

>>><><<< 

FCP Snippet 3

 And here we go still in chapter 2:

TauG6B6-12

 

Commodore Brown Nose felt the excitement in the air around him. It was like a fine wine, something to be savored. It needed to breathe though, and his people would hopefully settle down into their usual professionalism soon.

He hadn't been in the field as a fleet commander before. It was a new heady experience for him. He was nervous but also excited. He saw this as an opportunity for early advancement if he pulled his part off properly. He was determined to do so.

His time in fleet had been as a junior officer, one time as a captain during a training exercise. Nothing on this vast a scale. And coordinating everything was a pain. Logistics too, he had his concerns there.

He didn't like having to keep his fleet as one cohesive unit. He wanted to board a battlecruiser and race ahead with his faster units. But he had no choice. The orders were to move out as a unit. That meant traveling at the speed of his slowest unit. The monitors were of course the slowest. Some hadn't been in hyperspace for decades. Getting them moving had been a royal pain. A few heads had rolled when he'd found issues with their engineering.

They were squared away though, and his ships were underway to the jump point. Most of the ships he reminded himself. Admiral Rill had taken the bulk of the fleet ahead of him. That was an issue; how was he to connect with the admiral when he had such a wide lead?

He didn't have proper resupply planned out either. That bothered him. The Admiralty assured him the logistics were handled, but he had his doubts. Something was supposed to be done in 79, but he continued to worry. Commodore Lobo would be moving through there too.

He silently urged his ships to move faster. According to the last report, Lobo was less than a day from jumping out. He had a shorter run to 84 so it was a race to see who got to 79 and any supplies stockpiled there. Whoever lagged behind might get just dregs.

He knew he wasn't going to be a happy bull if that ended up being him. He vowed to have a chat with his people to find ways to move quicker in the unofficial race ahead.

>>><><<< 

TauR14G6-15 Blue Waters and Gentle Mist

 

Commodore Lobo stared blankly out the window as his ships continued their final countdown to jump. He was aghast at his order to move out, to join the fight.

He had no choice though. He had managed to get the Admiralty to sign off on his taking the captured enemy ships with him. That was a bit of a relief. The Admiralty had also ordered him to shoot a courier off to 77 to order Commodore Black Claw to move on Triple Threat in support of Admiral Ela too.

They had not authorized him to send a courier ahead to scout and to pass on news of his impending arrival. Apparently, they had a presence in 79 and elsewhere. Supposedly there would even be a courier and ansible in 72 in a few months.

He hoped so. The communication issue was a big question mark for him, coordinating all of their moving forces was willy-nilly at best. Logistics was also a big concern as was their lack of intelligence.

He shook his head ever so slightly. He glanced at the countdown and noted they had two minutes left. So be it. He turned and settled himself in his command chair. He noted his staff seemingly relaxing into professionalism around him.

He snorted mentally.

He was not interested in winning the race to see who was in overall command. He knew that as a commodore he was out of the running. At the moment, the only person who had a clear lead was Admiral Rill and he was in the lead anyway.

Of course, if he got killed, then the chain of command could be up for grabs. There was also the issue of getting organized on the fly.

“What a cluster frack,” he muttered.

His chief of staff gave him a sidelong look but said nothing.

>>><><<< 

Full Court Press Snippet 2

 Sitrep: I was told we should be seeing FCP by the end of the week. So, it should be published around that time.

I'm finally making good progress on Bootstrap 3 after a bad start. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable read.

On to the Snippet!

 

In Hyperspace

 

Admiral Ela stared at the status board unseeing. He was too lost in his thoughts, too burning with anger at himself. He'd been overconfident. He'd taken the carriers that the Admiralty had sent him as the pancrea he needed to beat the Federation's carrier force. He'd underestimated the enemy's skills.

The enemy had years of experience in carrier operations, how could he have thought his own people could compete or overcome that skill deficit with scale alone? He shook his head in anger.

Obviously, they hadn't. He had just six ships left of his task force. His two monitors and a handful of other ships, all of which were battered. Only his two monitors were classed as healthy. That didn't mean he intended to put them to the test.

His scowl deepened, and his hands curled in reflexive anger. His nostrils dilated in and out as his breathing picked up with his rage.

Three weeks had passed since the battle. Battle hell, disaster,he thought. He resented having to retreat with his tail tucked between his legs. He was smarting from his losses. He had picked up as many bulls as possible before being forced to run, so each of his surviving ships were crowded.

He technically could have bulled his way forward, but he knew instinctively he would have faced continued harassing attacks across the star system. The Federation would have no doubt bled him over and over, and he would have seen his ships falter as more and more of their systems were torn away.

His eyes stared out blackly at that vision. The visions of seeing ship interiors being blown apart haunted him. He hadn't seen it on his flagship, but he'd overheard others speak of such horrors.

Sure, he'd bled the enemy's bombers white, but according to some of the reports, their fighters could also carry torpedoes. He had no doubt that the enemy commander, the high elf Falling Leaf would have sent in those fighters to swarm him and tear his ships apart.

Of course, his monitors were hardy ships, and they wouldn't have gone down easily. They might not have gone down at all; they'd certainly torn apart the bombers that had dared come after them. His lips curled briefly in a silent resentful smirk over that small victory.

In the end, he could have gotten through and jumped to the Federation naval base … but then what? He was a tactician and a strategist; it was a simple thing to game it out. The enemy had superior speed in hyperspace; they would have raced ahead and then hit him in the next system. And they would had drawn on everything in the system to stop him.

He shook his head. No, it wasn't worth it.

He turned away from the board and stared at the bulkhead. His career was over; he knew it. He'd have to send a ship back to the jump line and eventually on to Admiral Yen. Once it got there, the Admiralty would no doubt send his relief.

So be it he thought in anger. They'd sent him with the wrong ships to do the job; he halted his spiral of resentment and self-pity. He had been one of the bulls who had been certain that carriers were a thing of the past. He'd bought into the institutional arrogance of the battle line. Now his bulls had paid the price for that.

Well, he couldn't change the past. What he could do was claim the territory they'd fought for and paid in blood for up to Deep Rivers. He would find a way to hold what he'd captured and wait for relief. He would only retreat when he was forced to do so.

He scratched under his chin at the errant hairs there. Had Falling Leaf sent her forces ahead of him? It was possible, even probable. You drove an enemy into the ground when they were routed he thought.

Drive them under your hooves and crush them so they can't regroup and come back against you. She had the superior speed …

He shook himself. He'd already cut orders to avoid the jump point. They would come in a full light hour out from it and take as much time as needed to be sure the star system was safe. Only then would he move in to reoccupy it.

He needed to find a way to defend it though; otherwise, Falling Leaf would eventually show up with her hated carriers and drive him out again.

He frowned and put the question to his staff. They too were no doubt lost in their thoughts. Keeping them busy with the tactical exercise should be good for them.

>>><><<< 

Purple Nights

 

Commodore Kal grimaced at the order to send as much supplies to 79 as possible. He was a command fortress officer, not a logistics bull. Yet Admiral Wex had left him in command.

Now the Admiralty was expecting him to step up. He was trying, but it was difficult with so little to work with. He was supposed to support each of the fleets in movement. He'd thought that meant Admiral Wex, but now they wanted more since Purple Nights was the closest naval base to the front.

Supplies were a minor issue; he could pull them from the vast stores. Those stores had been built up over the past six years after all. They'd only made a moderate dent in them with the fleet trains that had been sent out.

No, the problem was most of the support ships were already out of his AO. He had a couple of small tramp freighters that had recently trickled in but they were old and independents, not proper fleet colliers. He sent an email back to the Admiralty outlining the problem.

He received a curtly worded email back a few hours later to stop making excuses and figure it out. He shook his head and threw the problem to his staff to see what they came up with.

>>><><<< 

Full Court Press plus snippet 1!

   So, I am sticky, dealing with the humidity and sudden wind and rain from the hurricane turned tropical storm. I'm happy, I love rain. It beats the bloody 100+ we've had going for 2 weeks!

Ugh.

  Anyway, I just shot Shelby 7 off to Goodlifeguide. I sorta sat on it after Rea sent it to me a week or 2 ago. I've been wrapped up with getting into Bootstrap 3. I just finished the first act of that and shot it off to Paul to proofread. :)

So, here is the cover to Shelby 7:

There is a video on Youtube too FYI. I think:

   Just something fun I threw together. I doubt I'll do anything for FOW or BSC 3 at this time. (It is too hot to render anyway)

Speaking of FOW, or Fortunes of War:

There is that cover for future reference.

Now, on to the snippet!

 

New Tau Metropolis

 

Commodore Brad Gomez stared at the plot as the exercise terminated. He didn't like the responses. The damn scenario was scary.

They had always known that if the enemy avoided the fixed defenses they would be in for a world of hurt. Their fleets couldn't go toe to toe easily. They did on occasion get the job done, but it was costly.

The enemy's actions were trending in that direction too. His lips pursed in a thin line. The Taurens were anything but stupid. They were bypassing the fixed defenses like the book dictated. It just drove home the point that you couldn't put all your trust in fixed defenses or in the stupidity of your enemy. Underestimate them at your own peril he thought as a long-ago academy instructor had said.

The battles moving forward were going to be more fluid. Rill obviously wasn't interested in playing tag. He was also alarmingly moving fast, far faster than they'd predicted. He had advanced across the west in what had to be blistering speed for the Taurens.

What had changed? The enemy knew that Broken Tooth had been sandbagged and delayed for some time. Was that it? A concern over his failures and a desire to rectify their timetable? They might be afraid of a response fleet arriving from the Federation, but he wasn't certain that was it. Or, it wasn't the only reason.

He had to wonder if they had other concerns. Like the events going on next door.

His eyes drifted to the sector plot. They found the capital near the bottom center and then drifted slightly up and to the right to Tortuga's icon.

Well, Rill should be stalled or stopped in 63 once he ran into TF 3.5 and the Fourth Fleet regulars there. He frowned and made another note to check on the status of the paperwork. The Admiralty was considering turning the detached Third Fleet task forces over to Fourth Fleet permanently. It would be nice to get that transfer tidied up … though it would make for some interesting budget and chain-of-command discussions in the future.

>>><><<< 

Commander Otto Valkova received the email from Commodore Gomez and scanned it. He was technically intercepting it for his boss as her chief of staff. The vice admiral was taking a rare day off, and he wanted her to enjoy it as much as possible. Interruptions like the latest results from the strategic exercises could wait a day he judged.

He scanned them and nodded. He snorted at the recommendations that came from the hotwash. Commodore Gomez wanted more ships—no surprise there. No commander was ever satisfied with what they had; they were greedy and always wanted more. The trick was to find the right balance between perfect and good enough he knew.

He checked the status of the sim and nodded. Fifty percent losses, acceptable, but it was just a sim. He knew deep down that it was appalling to see that carnage in real life, but he also knew it was a sim—just a computer game. They had managed to stop Broken Tooth with less after all.

He frowned and then shook his head. He was curious as to how the other department heads would react to the missive. Probably dismiss it since they couldn't push their departments any more than they already were at this point.

>>><><<<  

He wrapped his arms around her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides and her hands under her chin. That strength was humbling, crushing any nagging resistance she had harbored. Slowly he began to kiss up and down the right side of her neck. Her eyes closed as she felt her body begin to respond to his advances.

His hands were like living things though, gently beginning to undress her and do naughty things as they stroked and caressed ever lower …

Shelby paused the book and fanned herself with the tablet. She felt unseasonably warm and she knew why. She felt the flush in her cheeks and elsewhere. It had been a while since she'd felt that flush. It reminded her that some parts of her were still very human.

She snorted softly to herself as the fanning slowed and came to a halt. She was what, 60 percent human? Give or take a percentage point. She wasn't nearly as bad as Admiral Irons was with replacement limbs and his entire internal organs replaced with artificial ones.

She always wondered if that was one thing that was inhibiting her. That or just being a flag officer. It wasn't like she could just go to a dating site and sign up, even now. Discrete ones … she shivered; the heat forgotten. No, she could least afford the embarrassment some of the tabloids would drum up.

Rachel Trejo over at Knox News might understand her desire to connect to another person but she had to report to her boss. Pete still had a hair across his ass over the whole April O'Neill affair.

Her lips pursed and then her mouth opened. She looked around the room and then stared at the virtual window. It was normally set to space, but at the moment, it was showing a screen saver of a beach.

Well, who could have done that I wonder? she thought in bemusement as her eyes searched her HUD. She had to look at a shadow area to see the full HUD. Her HUD was at minimum settings since she was off duty.

Her toes flexed. She was in her silk jammies, feeling a bit relaxed. She didn't see her partner's icon initially. When she did narrow her eyes and find it she snorted.

Boni's avatar was a 2D comical one. It was asleep, eyes closed, leaning up against the trash can on her HUD. Tiny Z's floated from her mouth above her head. Her tiny hands were resting in her lap.

She snorted to herself and then rolled over away from the image on the wall. After a moment, she rolled back to watch the waves crash and the palm trees sway. Okay, it sort of fit the book. The E-book was one of those ancient trashy romance novels she'd picked up for the trip out to Tau. It had grabbed her attention because it was a forbidden fruit sort of story. The story of a wet navy officer in the early twenty-first century who met a Marine noncom and fell for him. They'd started out innocently but then continued when they'd found out the truth.

She knew she would never do something like that but the naughty sneak-around part had hooked her. And okay, well, the book was rated as a scorcher on the romantic heat meter. She believed that part of it readily enough.

Her eyes fell to the tablet and then her fingertip hit the play button, and she began to read once more.

>>><><<< 

.

The Hunt Comic #2

 So, I've been going in circles for the past few weeks trying to get this comic published. Finally it is out. Sort of.

About: A group of pirates stop at a seemingly abandoned space colony for the usual loot and plunder...

So, as I was saying, I found out a few things: 

1: I need to keep comics under 40 pages and under a certain size. That is why some of you are having issues viewing this. I apologize. Goodlifeguide had to format some pages smaller and play with the compression ratios to get the book out. I even had to cut 5 pages out of this one to get it to all fit.

2:  The comics are not for all devices. Specifically some Kindle and phones will not show them well. Sorry about that.

3: B&N doesn't like the comic either. I am running into errors there. I have to contact support since their website is all messed up and they are closed until Monday. Edit: It is up! Cool.

4: With the compression issues and page constraints the graphic novel is out for the time being. Comic #3 is also long so I will have to figure that out in the future.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9VQTHTM

B&N: ...https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...

 

FYI: Yes I'll probably have this pop up sometime in the books...someday...

 

Shelby 7 Video

 So, hit a delay with publishing Comic #2 so I decided to upload the Shelby 7 video.

It is short and sweet, just a beauty pass.

Shelby 7 will be coming out in September I believe.