Chris Hechtl's Blog, page 2

Winds of Change Snippet 4

 Contract: World Builders 2

Sierra Keys

 

Captain Madeline Croft was on the bridge as her terraforming ship, the AuroraXXIV, arrived in the Sierra Keys star system at the Sparkling Seas jumppoint. “Stand down from hyperspace. Rig for sublight running,” she orderedcrisply.

The bridge crew echoed her order as they implemented them.

“Transmit our IFF to the picket and the planet. Wake them up. Not thatthey don’t know we are here,” she said.

“Given the massive energy we just unleashed, a blind man wouldn’t missit,” Deacon Croft stated in amusement. The teenager had recently graduated tohelm duty. His twin sister Harley was at the engineering console.

“Well, we are rather big,” Harley said.

“Are you calling my ship fat?” the captain and their older sister askedhumorously.

The twins glanced at each other and then looked at her with mischievousexpressions. She snorted and then shook a fist at them. They grinned back ather.

The captain sat back and ran her hands over the armrests. The ship wasancient; she had been left in Bek B as a space station for six centuries afterher hyperdrive had been taken offline. The Croft family had remained on boardto run her.

When Admiral Irons had restored contact with Bek, the family had donesome good business for a time. But then that had dried up as new space stationswere constructed and the use of hyperdrives meant their station and itslocation were made redundant.

Instead of giving up, she had convinced the family to turn theirmisfortunes around and restore the old beauty to her glory days. They’d linedup investors and set out to do just that.

It helped that a lot of the family, herself included, were former orreserve Spacebee Engineers. They had been born with a wrench in their hand.

She snorted softly to herself as her practiced eyes scanned the plotand the ship status screens. All were good.

“The picket has confirmed our presence and sent their regards. We arecleared to set course into the inner star system,” the communication techstated.

The captain nodded and tugged on her vest. She’d worn it in case sheneeded to be on camera. “Very well. Set course for the planet and someone raisethe government. Let them know we are here to get to work and time is of theessence.”

“Aye aye, ma’am.”

~~~#~~~

Fred Heo watched his boss Cole Croft secure the hyperdrive. The shipwas running smoothly. Now that they had plenty of jumps under their belt, Colewanted to try to squeeze additional speed out of the old girl.

They knew it was possible; the old ship had gone a full octave higherin her heyday. The skipper didn’t want to push the frame and systems, however.But, with more and more contracts lining up every few weeks, they needed toeither clone themselves or speed the ship up.

~~~#~~~

Doctor Marcus Chau immediately contracted the government email he hadbeen given. The time delay as they transited through the inner star system wasa bit irritating, but there was no way around it.

They could still get the ball rolling though. Time was of the essencein more ways than one.

They had originally been contracted by their first major client, thesector capital no less, New Tau Metropolis, to build a planet.

Their work there had barely started. The Browns and a team of engineershad been left behind to manage that while the ship went out to work on sidecontracts that they had agreed to.

Several star systems in the chain had been infected by a beetle. Thepest was devastating timber and agriculture. Petra was said to be the rootcause but there was some doubt there.

The bugs had spread to Sierra Keys, which had some artisan woods andagricultural exports. The blockade of that material was harming their economy,hence the contract.

He had a small but mighty team of geneticists and environmentalistsworking on the problem remotely. They had done what they could through thatroute; now that they were on scene, they intended to put their theories intopractice.

To pay for it all the planetary governments had received matchinggrants from the Federation. Each grant was broken down into phases. Completionof each phase unlocked the funding for the next.

They had a very tight timeline though to get through the next phase.Two months from the time they made orbit. It was going to be … tricky.

Hopefully, nothing like weather would throw them off, he thought with apang.

~~~#~~~

Governor Simon Kane stared out from his new digs and smiled. As arealtor, he really liked his new “purchase” even though he’d gotten it with alot of strings from his “investors.”

He had managed to capitalize on inflation and economic turmoil causedby the timber crisis by promising sweeping changes. His conservative party hadswept into power as the newly elected government.

He had to admit, the governorship was harder than he’d expected. He’dhad to cut back on his social outings and his time on the golf course a bit,limiting it to just the weekends. That was annoying.

He had expected an easy win since the people had wanted change and manyhad been suspicious of Governor Raye. Raye, a male Tauren, had been tied to theConfederation because of his species.

Kane had capitalized on the governor’s race andits connection to the Confederation. The veiled racist attacks had cut bothways but had helped him to undercut the governor and eventually beat him in thelast election.

The people had wanted change, and he was going todeliver them that wish. They just might not get what they were expecting. Hisfollowers were digging into the government with a will.

It was … tricky though. He had promised them thatthey would keep AI at bay since AI stole jobs. The reality was that an AI coulddo the work of hundreds of people for a much smaller pay. He’d tried to havedumb AI created to do the work for free only to run into the limitations of theAI at the lowest level. Upper level AI, even dumb AI, had to have some sort ofpay.

Then there were all of the job positions. He hadpromised to cut the fat, to whittle down the government by eliminating wasteand corruption. His friend Marcus Enron had sent a team in to do just that.

Sure, there had been some minor issues with a fewof his people making racial comments that had been deleted. And oh, one hadbeen outed as a hacker. But they were finding waste. They had cut out a hundredmillion credits. It wasn’t a lot compared to the interest on the planet’sgrowing debt, but it was a start and something that they could point to withtheir supporters.

He had begun pushing tariffs on imports sincetheir timber and agricultural goods were being blockaded by the Federalgovernment. The protectionism was supposed to help the economy but was causingrampant inflation to flourish.

And now this. The damn ship had appeared just aspredicted. Damn them, he thought sourly. He didn’t want or needoutsiders. They can fix their own problems with native work. They just neededto find the right way to do it.

Enron had come up with a scheme to keep the grantmoney local. If they did that and downplayed the threat, they could eventuallywear the Federal government down into allowing some timber to flow again.

To do that though, he needed to get rid of the ship after they turnedover whatever they’d come up with.

According to the reports, they had identified several approaches to theproblem. His administration had diverted funds allocated to prep for thearrival of the ship to appease Enron and some of his other financial backers.They were supposed to build a university too in order to keep the scientistshappy… however, were delaying it.

Doctor Hans Lorn, the head of the Timber project and chair of theDepartment of Timber and Agriculture at the Capital University, had insistedthat they lacked the skills and equipment to put any of the ship’s proposedmethods of treatment into practice in any realistic timeline.

He didn’t believe that. It was just a matter of pressure and keeping asmuch money for themselves and away from the greedy outsiders. Once they hadturned over their work, his people would get rid of them and the doctor or hissuccessor could use the work as a blueprint. Sure, it would take a few extra yearsor so but that was fine with him.

Daniel Locke, his administration’s chief lawyer, had gone over thecontract with the ship and identified a couple of approaches to break thecontract. The key was to make it look like it was the ship’s fault.

Delay was the simplest and best option.

“So, option one is out. They arrived in the expected window and havecompleted the initial work on their ship,” Mike Tate, the governor’s chief of staff, stated.

“So, we owe them something,” Daniel stated. “They completed the firstphase.”

The governor grimaced.

“You say that we can minimize the outlay by delaying them until theirwindow to do something expires?” the chief of staff asked. “Let’s introducethem to government red tape.”

The attorney nodded. “With any luck it will tie them up in knots andthey’ll make a wrong move or give up and move on. After that we can have thegrant reworked to support our scientists.”

The governor nodded. And naturally his supporters would be right alongfor the ride, skimming what they could off the fat Federal teat.

~~~#~~~

Winds of Change Snippet 3

 Here is snippet 3:

ORCA

Agnosta

 

The fishing boat's bell clang gently with the rocking of the boat. Thesmall crew on the trawler was too busy with a catch to try to muffle it.

Gobby Novak struggled with the line before getting it around a cleat.He gasped, flexing his gloved hands as he tried to get feeling back into them.

On the other end of the high tech polymer line was a Great White Shark.They were trying to catch it for an aquarium since the fish were not running atthe moment. It was early spring, and the icebergs were flowing down from thenorth.

There were crabbers out there but the ship was too small to make aprofit in crabbing anymore. Celtic Bimbo had once been new but was nowshowing signs of her age. It didn’t help that the captain spent most of hiscredits in port in the off-season.

The first officer checked the weather with an eye and then went back towatching the line. It was taught as it should be. The shark was firmly hookedin the corner of the mouth with a sturdy steel hook. He wished the skipper hadgone for a better hook material, but this one was working for the moment.

The shark needed to wear itself out a little before they could get italongside and get it into a sling. They didn’t want to stress it out though.Too much stress and the beast would go belly up.

~~~{^}~~~

Captain Brown steered away from a group of icebergs on the horizon. Itwas early spring and it showed. You could still see icebergs of various shapesand sizes everywhere floating south in the current. There was a storm frontcoming in a few days; he wanted to be back in the harbor by then.

His weathered hands held the pegs on the old fashioned wheel withpracticed ease. He kept an eye on the line, keeping it just taut and clear ofthe stern. He didn’t want the beast to foul the screws. That was the last thinghe needed.

Easy does it, he thought as he guided the ship with slight movements ofthe wheel and minor tweaks of the throttle.

He glanced in the mirror and then adjusted his cap. He was an Irishcharming rogue according to the women he met. He had more salt in his hair thanpepper these days. He couldn’t change, the sea and fishing was the only thinghe’d ever known. He made a mistake and swung the ship into a rogue wave. Thewave hit the boat and kicked a boom loose from its line. The line was old andworn and snapped with a cracking sound. The boom swung across the deck andknocked Ken into the water.

The splash alerted the crew that something was wrong. Ann leaned outthe open porthole to see Ken flaying. “Man overboard!” she called out and thenhit the alarm.

The alarm went off throughout the ship, setting off a klaxon andflashing strobe. The crew cursed as they tried to find Ken.

“Anyone got eyes on him?” the captain called out over his shoulder.“Sing out to me! Who has him?” he demanded.

~~~{^}~~~

Katina saw the human splash and went to investigate. The rest of thepod was intent on the shark that the humans had caught on the line.

Namu and the others in the pod told her to ignore the thrashing 2-legbut she took pity on the human and rose up under him. From her melon, herecholocation clicks determined that it was a male as her sixth sense penetratedhis clothing.

“You shouldn’t be jealous, Namu. Is manhood is tiny,” she teased hermate. He gave her some side-eye and then clacked an echolocation burst at the 2-leg.

He sent a withering comment in primal dolphin and then swam off.

His mate sighed softly to herself and lifted the human up on her back.Her mate would never understand her fascination with the 2-legs. He didn’t carethat her ancestors had actually liked working with them. They were endlesslyinventive and had saved two of her ancestors from the tiny predators thatattacked through their blood.

She could at least help the 2-leg out and temporarily sate hercuriosity over the thing while also adding to the mystery of her species withthem. It never hurt to have the 2-legs indebted to her kind and remind them ofwho the real rulers of the sea were.

~~~{^}~~~

Ken realized he was in trouble when he hit the frigid water. No onelasted more than a few moments in the cold seas without a proper suit and hedidn’t have one on. He cursed his stupidity. The captain was cheap. He shouldhave bought one in his last port of call but he’d stupidly gambled and drankmost of his money away.

Now he was going to pay for his shortsighted stupidity with his life.

He spat the salt water out of his mouth as he bobbed and wavedfrantically to the ship. Something touched his leg and he frantically lookedaround. They’d been hunting a shark, and he’d heard that they would first taptheir victim before they took a test bite. He flayed around as he tried to swimback to the boat.

~~~{^}~~~

“Secure that line!” the captain snarled as he held onto the oldfashioned wooden wheel.

“Port side!” Ann called out.

“Yeah, yeah,” Captain Brown snarled under his breath as he yanked thewheel hard over to come back around to his hapless sailor. “Bet he didn’t thinkhe’d be bait this morn,” he growled gruffly. “Next time tie the line properly!”he bellowed.

~~~{^}~~~

Gobby Novak the XO scrambled to secure the line as Paul tossed apreserver and line in Ken’s direction. The toss was bad, partly because of theswaying of the boat and partly due to the sudden turn. Paul dodged the swingingboom and tripped on the line.

Gobby snagged the line and wrapped it around his wrist to contain theboom. He was nearly yanked off his feet. Ann came up behind him and grabbed hiswaist to pull him back down. He breathed a sigh of relief as the cook assistedhim in wrestling the wayward boom under control.

As they secured the boom line with a fresh replacement, Paul managed tostruggle to his feet and pull the preserver back in to try another throw.

Just as Paul got the preserver to the side of the boat a geyser blastof air and water went skyward near the hapless sailor.

“Whale ahoy!” Gobby said. He stared gob smacked as the black shapeemerged under the sailor and lifted him out of the water.

 ~~~{^}~~~

Ken felt the rubbery shape push him up and out of the water.Instinctively, he hung onto it as he shivered. Hypothermia was beginning tosink in. He knew he didn’t have much time left. If he lost consciousness, hewas a gonner.

 ~~~{^}~~~

The captain stared at the sight of the black shape carrying Ken back tothe boat. Initially he thought it was the shark that they’d been hunting, buthe quickly realized from the blunt black fin that it was an Orca. It was curvedand short, a female he judged. Where had she come from?

She must have been drawn in by the thrashing from the shark. He checkedthe line. It was still tied off to the cleat.

 ~~~{^}~~~

Namu saw the shark thrash as it tried to snap the line that connectedthe massive hook in its mouth to the 2-leg boat. In its maddened state, itlined up on Katina and the human. The alpha male went into overdrive and swamup to slam the massive great white from below.

~~~{^}~~~

One moment they were staring at the incredible sight of Ken beingrescued by an orca, the next the shark fin had lined up on them and then anexplosion of water and shark was thrust in a geyser upwards. The two-ton sharkwas thrown into the air with a massive male Orca’s jaws clamped around itstorso.

Captain Brown stared thunderstruck for a long moment.

 ~~~{^}~~~

Ken felt the spray of water but he was beginning to lose consciousness.His grip began to slip. He coughed up water and moaned. Hands reached for hisback. He heard muffled voices saying they got him, and he felt himself beinglifted out of the sea.

 ~~~{^}~~~

“Show off,” Katina teased her mate in a series of clicks. “This one isabout done in. They are so fragile. Not really meant to be in the sea,” sheobserved as she pushed the human to the side of the boat.

Namu ignored her as he shook the shark and tore at its abdomensavagely. The shark’s mouth opened and closed, exposing triangular serrated teeththat bit the water in impotent rage and terror before the glass black eyesfaded.

The water was red with blood. The orca backed off and allowed the sharkto drift before it went back in and used his flippered hands to rip the woundopen further to get at the liver. He extracted it, took a bite for himself,then bit off a chunk and spat it out to the other orca as he took a piece offto his mate.

 ~~~{^}~~~

Gobby and Paul pulled Ken back on board. He shivered uncontrollably,half awake. Paul slapped the guy on the face to try to get him to remain awakeas they tried to get him below decks.

Ann met them at the hatch and threw a blanket over Ken. “I’ll get somebroth going. Get him in the shower. Don’t warm him up too fast or he’ll have aheart attack,” she warned.

“We know,” Gobby said testily as he pulled the sailor to the head andwaiting shower. He could hear that Ann had already turned it on.

 ~~~{^}~~~

“Well, that was fun,” Namu said as he came up to his mate as she swamaway from the ship.

“Did you at least save me a piece?” she asked.

“Of course,” he teased. He played with her for a bit, keeping it awayfrom her before she began to get exasperated. When he sensed her mood shift, hekicked it to her with his flutes.

She gobbled the liver in a couple of bites and then nodded.

“Just what our growing child needed,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” he said as he swam back to the pod. They were chasinga run of seals that were fishing nearby.

 ~~~{^}~~~

Winds of Change snippet 2

Sitrep:  I got the manuscript back from Rea and I went and shot it off to Goodlife after edits. She said to expect it in a week.

Here is a snippet from another story:

Grease Monkey

Pyrax:

AdmiralChambers frowned as she read the orders. They came direct from AdmiralPashenkov so she couldn't dispute them, nor would she. She would miss Trajanthough. He had turned out to be a good officer, a bit bent but not broken bythe war. She was glad he had gotten himself sorted out and had found somepeace. She hoped the order to go to the gate star system didn't break him. Itwould be a damn shame for the navy to lose his services.

Shehad to admit they were gambling a lot by sending him there rather than to Airea3 and the long way. There was no guarantee that the Spacebees in Tau would beable to get the gate functional in time. From the reports she had read aboutthe war fronts there, it wasn't good. Admiral Logan was pulling out all thetricks to stop the Taurens though.

~~~-^-~~~

Warrantofficer Mack Ihejirika stared at the kid that had been assigned to him. He wasthe number one plane mechanic on the carrier. He had spent years perfecting hisprofession into an art and now they sent him another fresh kid straight out ofthe schools as an understudy.

Thekid was stuffed with book knowledge. Who knows what they taught the kids thesedays. It was all recipe, follow-the-directions crap, not true art. The art of atrue mechanic was in being able to diagnose a problem and solve it with theclues they had. In being able to find ways to keep them flying with “bushfixes” and even tuning them to do better than expected.

Atrue mechanic was hands-on. They could do anything from an engine teardown toreprogramming the sensors. There were of course specialists, but they were notthe maestros of the trade like he was.

Technically,he had dozens of plane captains and mechanics on the ship. They answered to himand Lieutenant Eli Grande. But Eli wasn't a natural mechanic. He was anotherguy who had learned the trade from going to class rather than hands-on. Hespent most of his times in meetings and doing paperwork.

Tobe honest Mack preferred it that way. Eli took care of the paperwork andlogistics while he got his furry hands dirty. He could tune a fighter or bomberto fly at its best level, sometimes squeezing a bit more speed and efficiencyout of the systems that designers hadn't expected.

“Ah,I'm Spacer First Class Rob Potlik,” the human kid said.

Macksniffed and then turned away, ignoring the extended hand.

“Sorry,sir,” the kid said as he set his spacebag down and came to attention.

“Don'tcall me sir,” he muttered.

“Ah…”

“Isaid, don't call me sir. I work for a living,” the brown Neogorilla growled. Hewas a light brown and had a mix of gorilla and human features. Some of hisancestors had gene formed themselves to be more conformist to humans. He wasannoyed at that but he was publicly indifferent to people seeing him as different.He rather secretly treasured being different. He liked to stand out.

“Youfresh from the trade schools?” the gorilla asked as he watched the squadronsoutside the window. Ordinarily you couldn't see the tiny specs in the blackdepth of space but the window was a smart window. It had icons around eachcraft with basic data like IFF.

Barbwas mixing it up, running the squadrons through the ringer as usual. In orderto stay on top as CAG, she had to have the best fighter. Her double O washaving issues though. In fact most of the lead squadron had some gremlins inthe OMS.

“Yes,… ah, Warrant Officer,” the kid said. “I was top of my class. I wrote a paperon …”

“Papers,”the gorilla sniffed harshly. “They interfere with art. I don't need a piece ofpaper telling me if I know how to do my job!” he turned to point a finger intothe chest of the kid.

Thekid flinched, looking a bit fearful, but he held his ground.

Mackwas silently impressed. So, the kid did have some backbone. He had passed hisfirst test.

Hehad come into the navy after spending time in the space racing league as ateen. He'd been something of a loner, all mysterious, never letting friendsinto his room. His parents had tolerated his talk of mechanical work as art.

Hehad bonded with Barb over their mutual past with the space-racing league. Shehad been in Pyrax; he had been in Bek. Two of the pilots in her lead squadronhad been in the racing league in Antigua, another in ET, and another hadrecently transferred in from Bek.

Theyhad all been flying since they were ten. In Barb's case, six. She and herbrother Lyle had been flying shuttles too. She hated the things.

Hegrowled as he turned to listen to the chatter. The kid seemed to relax with a“few” shoulders slumping. Mack snorted again and then grimaced when Barb beganto complain bitterly about the sluggish response to her plane.

Thekid looked up to the audio chatter and frowned. “Sir, there is a problem withthe OMS? As I was saying …”

“No,there is a bump on my canvas!” the gorilla growled, turning a glower on thekid. “No one messes with my art! Until I know what to do with you, hands off,got it?”

Thekid nodded in earnest.

~~~-^-~~~

CaptainAtler checked on the new fighters and nodded. The crews were still shaking downwith the new designs. They were good, damn near E class according to allreports.

AnE class used an A.I. to balance the power supply load and shields. They weresmart A.I. that tended to bond with the host pilot in a symbiosis.

Cobrafighters used dumb A.I. to do the same job. They weren't as effective as thesmart A.I., but they got the job done. The new approach was an artificialneural network to balance the shields and reactor. It made the process almostinstinctive for the system, taking a lot of the processor load off of the A.I.and freeing it up to better support the pilot.

Theshields had also been reshaped. Any energy shield was simple; it was due to thenatural effect of gravity curving back in upon itself. Fighters had flattenedegg-shaped shields that made the network keep working to balance it. Byincorporating the neural network and making changes to the fighters’ design andincorporating Lemnos force emitter tech, the designers had made more efficientshields.

Thenew naval fighters had dropped the need to be aerodynamic in favor of aspace-only platform. The Marines, however, wanted to keep the aerodynamicdesign since they had to operate in the soup. They were taking on the oldCobras as they were phased out.

Allof those changes meant that there were places things could break down anddefinitely hardware to learn about, explore, and find the breaking points. Shewould much rather it happen in a training exercise rather than in combat so shepushed the CAG to keep a rigorous training schedule while they still had theopportunity to do so.

~~~-^-~~~

Upcoming Books

 Paul, one of the Betas brought a post to my attention that someone wasn't sure what Forging Alliances was.

Okay here are the upcoming books so far:

Winds of Change (not World Builders, I goofed) is Tales of the Federation Reborn 7. It has stories from the New Federation series that will impact events moving forward.

Status: With Rea going through final edits now.

When will it come out? Expect it in Early October 2025

Forging Alliances is the first book of The Second Xeno War in the main Federation series. (the one with Irons and crew) There will be crossovers with the stories, Jethro 9-10, Shelby 9-10 and so on too.

 Status: Being proof read by the Betas.

When will it come out? Expect it in December 2025

 

Occupation Shelby Logan Chronicles 10 is the 10th book in the Shelby series.

Status: Being proof read by the Betas

When will it come out? Expect it in February 2026

 

What we Fight For is the 10th book in the Jethro Goes to War series. Yes that is Shanti on the cover, not Jethro. If you want to know more, well, you'll have to check it out. :)

Status: I finished writing it a week or so ago. Being proof read by the Betas. (if they finish the other books above let me know and I'll send you this!)

When will it come out? Expect it April 2026

 

Current project: Princess Rescue Inc 4.

Status: 13 chapters complete rough draft. Last book to be written this year.

When will it come out? Expect it June 2026. 

That is it for now!

Tales of the New Federation book 7 Winds of Change Snippet 1

 So, sitrep, Shelby 9 is selling horribly. I'm wondering if it was my choice of cover or material? Or market saturation?

I finished Jethro 10 and I am on the last book of the year, PRI4. I'm running on fumes however, we had a visit from the paramedics. (we're fine) Dad wasn't feeling well all night but bounced back once they did a check.

Book 7 is with Rea so....

Anyway.... on to the snippet!

 

Refugee Convoy

OO114-4, Omicron Sector, 734 years from present day.

 

Acting Commodore Leron Cabera was of course on hand to enter the key totrigger the bomb. The bulk freighter that had been commandeered to hold thebombs deployed the immense bomb and then backed away.

The crews of the ships watched as the bomb began its first stagedeployment. It drifted clear of the massive ship into a polar orbit. Once itwas settled there it began to kick out sub munitions that slowly began tospiral into the star. Once it was clear that there were no problems the shipsgot underway.

The small task force of 6 battered ships spent 3 days fleeing to theouter edge of the star system before the commodore sent a radio signal totrigger the final countdown on the bomb.

He had been given a small command along with his brevet promotion fromlieutenant commander to commodore with a simple but ruthless order, they wereto nova bomb the anchor stars of every hyperbridge in order to prevent theXenos from returning to the ravaged sector. Not that it would do a whole hellof a lot of good he judged.

There was still a Xeno task force rampaging in the sector. Two navaltask forces were supposed to nail it, but so far had failed miserably. Hundredsof star systems had been laid to waste in their attempts to kill the aliens.Both sides were popping stars or planets like candy these days. The fleet waswhittled down to the bone. They were killing themselves trying to nail thebastards before the Xenos destroyed all life in the sector.

And in a moment they were going to pop another star, he thought as he looked at the camera showing thestern view. The ship’s hyperdrive was fully charged. The field was forming. Heknew that they had the timing right, the gravitational sensors could see thewave of energy coming towards them.

At least this one doesn’t have any life around it, he noted. Small blessings.

He stood on the bridge as the nova bomb went off behind them in the Otype star. His ship fled into hyperspace as the star went nova, tearing apartthe star system behind it and flinging the contents of the star and debris farand wide.

The star had been an anchor star for a hyperbridge. With it gone thebridge would no doubt collapse. At least, that was the intent. Burning thebridge was the only strategy they had to keep the Xenos at bay. That hadalready been done to the Stargate in the sector.

Unfortunately, it also would prevent any friendly ships from fleeingtowards them as well. There was no way to warn them either. The ansible networkwas down.

“This sucks,” the commodore growled as he stared at the plot. After amoment he straightened up and squared his shoulders and then nodded once. “Onto the next I guess.”

“I agree sir, this sucks,” the ship’s XO said with a shake of her head.

The commodore l glanced at her image and then nodded. “Set course forthe next on the list.”

“Aye aye sir.”

~~~<{[   ]}>~~~

In the OO114-4 Hyper Bridge

 

Captain Christina Archer was staring at the Omicron sector map,wondering where the safest place to deposit her chicks were when the shiptrembled. She looked up in alarm, Fortune LV was a Mayflower XXXclass titan colony ship. Ships that size didn’t just shimmy without somethingvery bad going wrong.

“Report,” she barked as she straightened up and stood. Her back andneck bugged her but she ignored the pangs of pain.

“The hyperbridge is collapsing!” the urgent voice from the ship’s thirdofficer said over the intercom. “Skipper we need you up here”! He said.

“On my way,” the captain said as she took off through her hatch andheaded to the bridge. Fortunately it was a short jaunt. Her hand slipped intoher jacket pocket and pulled out a scrunchy. She used the rubber band to tieher blond hair back in a pony tail as she got through the hatch and onto herbridge.

The ship shuddered again as she grabbed her chair. Horace turned at herarrival and jumped out of the way.

“We need to get through the wall or the bridge will collapse aroundus,” the navigator warned urgently from the overhead speakers.

“What will happen to us if it does?” a tech asked.

“Nothing good,” the navigator warned.

“Helm, alter course to port. Get us out of the bridge now,” the captainbarked as she settled into the hot seat. “Warn all hands to brace for massiveturbulence,” she ordered.

“We’ve got red lights on four node rings,” the engineering tech warned.

“It is going to get a lot worse once we hit the wall,” the helmsmanmuttered. “Taking her in,” she stated flatly.

“Set beacon to follow and relay. Then emergency stations people!” thecaptain stated firmly as she settled herself into her chair. There were someflickering lights and then a panel went down. The tech there cursed, tried to  get it back up but failed. She moved over toa vacant station rather than stare at a dead board.

The captain nodded in brief approval and then she was intent on savingher ship and convoy as the walls of the hyperbridge began to collapse aroundthem.

~~~<{[   ]}>~~~

Tales of the New Federation book 7 World Builders Snippet 1

 So, sitrep, Shelby 9 is selling horribly. I'm wondering if it was my choice of cover or material? Or market saturation?

I finished Jethro 10 and I am on the last book of the year, PRI4. I'm running on fumes however, we had a visit from the paramedics. (we're fine) Dad wasn't feeling well all night but bounced back once they did a check.

Book 7 is with Rea so....

Anyway.... on to the snippet!

 

Refugee Convoy

OO114-4, Omicron Sector, 734 years from present day.

 

Acting Commodore Leron Cabera was of course on hand to enter the key totrigger the bomb. The bulk freighter that had been commandeered to hold thebombs deployed the immense bomb and then backed away.

The crews of the ships watched as the bomb began its first stagedeployment. It drifted clear of the massive ship into a polar orbit. Once itwas settled there it began to kick out sub munitions that slowly began tospiral into the star. Once it was clear that there were no problems the shipsgot underway.

The small task force of 6 battered ships spent 3 days fleeing to theouter edge of the star system before the commodore sent a radio signal totrigger the final countdown on the bomb.

He had been given a small command along with his brevet promotion fromlieutenant commander to commodore with a simple but ruthless order, they wereto nova bomb the anchor stars of every hyperbridge in order to prevent theXenos from returning to the ravaged sector. Not that it would do a whole hellof a lot of good he judged.

There was still a Xeno task force rampaging in the sector. Two navaltask forces were supposed to nail it, but so far had failed miserably. Hundredsof star systems had been laid to waste in their attempts to kill the aliens.Both sides were popping stars or planets like candy these days. The fleet waswhittled down to the bone. They were killing themselves trying to nail thebastards before the Xenos destroyed all life in the sector.

And in a moment they were going to pop another star, he thought as he looked at the camera showing thestern view. The ship’s hyperdrive was fully charged. The field was forming. Heknew that they had the timing right, the gravitational sensors could see thewave of energy coming towards them.

At least this one doesn’t have any life around it, he noted. Small blessings.

He stood on the bridge as the nova bomb went off behind them in the Otype star. His ship fled into hyperspace as the star went nova, tearing apartthe star system behind it and flinging the contents of the star and debris farand wide.

The star had been an anchor star for a hyperbridge. With it gone thebridge would no doubt collapse. At least, that was the intent. Burning thebridge was the only strategy they had to keep the Xenos at bay. That hadalready been done to the Stargate in the sector.

Unfortunately, it also would prevent any friendly ships from fleeingtowards them as well. There was no way to warn them either. The ansible networkwas down.

“This sucks,” the commodore growled as he stared at the plot. After amoment he straightened up and squared his shoulders and then nodded once. “Onto the next I guess.”

“I agree sir, this sucks,” the ship’s XO said with a shake of her head.

The commodore l glanced at her image and then nodded. “Set course forthe next on the list.”

“Aye aye sir.”

~~~<{[   ]}>~~~

In the OO114-4 Hyper Bridge

 

Captain Christina Archer was staring at the Omicron sector map,wondering where the safest place to deposit her chicks were when the shiptrembled. She looked up in alarm, Fortune LV was a Mayflower XXXclass titan colony ship. Ships that size didn’t just shimmy without somethingvery bad going wrong.

“Report,” she barked as she straightened up and stood. Her back andneck bugged her but she ignored the pangs of pain.

“The hyperbridge is collapsing!” the urgent voice from the ship’s thirdofficer said over the intercom. “Skipper we need you up here”! He said.

“On my way,” the captain said as she took off through her hatch andheaded to the bridge. Fortunately it was a short jaunt. Her hand slipped intoher jacket pocket and pulled out a scrunchy. She used the rubber band to tieher blond hair back in a pony tail as she got through the hatch and onto herbridge.

The ship shuddered again as she grabbed her chair. Horace turned at herarrival and jumped out of the way.

“We need to get through the wall or the bridge will collapse aroundus,” the navigator warned urgently from the overhead speakers.

“What will happen to us if it does?” a tech asked.

“Nothing good,” the navigator warned.

“Helm, alter course to port. Get us out of the bridge now,” the captainbarked as she settled into the hot seat. “Warn all hands to brace for massiveturbulence,” she ordered.

“We’ve got red lights on four node rings,” the engineering tech warned.

“It is going to get a lot worse once we hit the wall,” the helmsmanmuttered. “Taking her in,” she stated flatly.

“Set beacon to follow and relay. Then emergency stations people!” thecaptain stated firmly as she settled herself into her chair. There were someflickering lights and then a panel went down. The tech there cursed, tried to  get it back up but failed. She moved over toa vacant station rather than stare at a dead board.

The captain nodded in brief approval and then she was intent on savingher ship and convoy as the walls of the hyperbridge began to collapse aroundthem.

~~~<{[   ]}>~~~

Shelby 9 Peacekeepers is out!

 Yep, better late than never. :)

With the Tauren-Federation warover both sides settled into a healing period. However there are forces thatare not willing to give up so easily. Will bigotry and hatred reignite the waror will a couple of kids of various species who just want to play lead the wayinto a new future?

 

B&N: Peacekeepers

Amazon:  Peacekeepers

Shelby 9 Snippet 5

 Sitrep: I received an update from Goodlifeguide, they are on vacation so I do not expect the manuscript back for another week. Bummer.

Oh well, on to the snippet!

 

Renee Mayweather Naval Station

 

AdmiralJanice Yu looked at the latest plan and frowned. She had to hope that shewasn’t the only one concerned about the IFF with the Confeds if they did end upworking together. Tempers were going to naturally run high with the tension ofthe moment. She trusted the navy side; the Taurens though … she wasn’t socertain about.

Herdinstinct might kick in and they might flip sides. It has been known to happenon occasion. Fire discipline was therefore crucial. Hopefully, Rick was on topof things.

Theother point of concern were the civilians, especially the highly important VIPsin Confed space in Purple Nights and elsewhere. Not to mention the navalpersonnel escorting them. If things did go to shit … her frowned deepenedbefore it smoothed as she realized something important.

Ifit did go south in a big way, the Federation would know before the Taurens. Sheslowly began to nod to herself. Yes, and they’d transmit an encrypted report toFed space, and Shelby would act by sending a signal to the ships in Confedspace to pull out. By the time the Taurens knew what was going on, hopefullythe secretary would make her excuses and get out of the line of fire.

Hopefully.

Ifit did go to shit, well, she had five times the firepower as before. And KaraDanvers was in 63 to back her up if she was forced to fall back. Not that sheexpected to have to do so again. One fighting retreat was enough for her career,thank you very much.

Herlips puckered ever so slightly at that thought.

Ina small way she was hoping it would cross a line and the fighting would begin.She didn’t like having a tarnished reputation and would love to rectify that.

But,then again, if ONI was right about the threats incoming from Omicron, avoidinga conflict with the Taurens was imperative.

Hopefully,it wouldn’t come to that. Hopefully, it would end quickly and quietly and thenthey could shift focus back to general peacekeeping once again.

Hopefully.

>>>~<<<

Tau-Bin63A4

 

AdmiralKara Danvers smiled as the current training exercise unfolded. She wasmonitoring it and was playing referee but was otherwise out of it. Normally sheliked to play the op force but not at the moment. She was a bit distracted.

Rickwas trucking along to Confed space. Her smile slipped. She didn’t envy thesnake pit he was stepping into. A hostage situation and questionable IFF, plusthe potential to kicking the war off again? No, she didn’t envy him, not onebit.

Well,okay, she did envy his command. Ninth Fleet was nothing to sneeze at. Her taskforce had been reinforced but it was just that, a task force. He had an entiredamn fleet to play with.

Speakingof playing … her eyes shifted to the main plot. Marsal’s attack force waslurking in stealth in an asteroid field. It wasn’t a dense one; she’d set thatup with the other referees so his forces were … dispersed.

Thatmight come back to bite him in the ass soon, she thought as the op force creptin.

Insteadof a Tauren force, she had opted for something particularly nasty, a Xenoforce. The AI in the task force had worked out the best way to replicate theXeno ships. Setting aside the cyber war aspect of a space battle with theXenos, they were still fierce and deadly enemies.

Marsaldidn’t know what he was up against. She’d left that part out of the briefing,just that he was up against an “unknown enemy force.”

HerSpirit’s eye view of the 3D virtual battlefield allowed her to see his shipsand tasking. If she wanted she could pull up a video feed. She noted he hadplaced recon drones in the probable approach paths to the planet, but he hadn’t… ah, there, one had just tripped.

Sheflipped to the video cameras watching Commodore Marsal’s flag bridge. The timedelay was compressed, but when the data came in, his reaction was at firstpuzzled and then beautifully disgusted.

“Shit,”the commodore muttered. “She wouldn’t …”

“Shedid,” the tac officer said.

“Sonof a …”

Karacouldn’t help but grin as that curse was cut off.

“Okay,pass the word, we’re up against Xenos. Full cyber security protocols in place.We’re going to have to watch our approach; if I remember my briefings right,they like to spit nanites into the path of ships.”

Karanodded. He was taking the surprise very well and adapting. Excellent. It wasnice to see.

Shewondered what his reaction would be when he found out that the attack on theplanet was just a ruse to get a Xeno ship into position to deliver the coup degrace, a nova bomb against the local star.

Shemade certain the computers were recording for that moment.

>>>~<<<

GovernorMagistrate Scrooge kept his trademark slight scowl in place as he toured thespace station. It was impressive, and it was one of three under construction.

 Twoother space stations had been completed. They were a transport and freight hub.There were orbital warehouses as well. The navy still leased or owned half ofthose. His people only received a small token from the leases but it was stillprofitable.

Thenewest station was a central transport hub; it would take the place of some ofStation 1. It was larger and set up to handle five times the throughput.

Inother words, plenty of people like those coming from a liner.

Wordwas that liner companies were starting to line up stops in the sector. He hadbeen surprised by the news that the sector capital was their first stop. Oncehe saw the news about the planet being constructed there, it suddenly madesense.

Itwas a wonder, hethought, glad he was still alive to see it all unfold. He was grateful to thecrew of the Oliver Twist to give him a new lease on life. What wouldcome next? He wasn’t certain, but it would be interesting to find out.

Themetal tip of his cane made a tapping sound as he followed the guide and noddedpolitely to her enthusiastic explanations of the spaces she was showing them.

>>>~<<<

Shelby 9 Snippet 4

 

 

Tortuga

 

“Whata rush,” Pops gushed, bobbing up and down in a characteristic otter show ofexcitement. “Like a slip and slide,” he said.

Captain  Jira “Crusty” Kireski glanced at his chiefhelmsman and then away. The otters were overdue for time off so he was cuttingthem a lot of slack.

Thecourier had handled the transit through the wormhole smoothly. His professionaleyes scanned the readouts as the ship’s tiny crew and AI switched over tosublight.

“We’vebeen welcomed to the star system, sir,” the ship’s AI stated. “Are we going tostay?”

“No.Let’s get this show on the road. The sooner we get to where we’re going, thesooner Pops and the other otters get to get some time off in an ocean or waterpark.”

“Definitely,”Pops said. He bobbed and weaved. “Course plotted.”

Thecaptain glanced at it. It wasn’t quite the least-time course to the jump pointzone he was expecting. As usual Pops was taking a few liberties to buzz aroundthe traffic ahead of them.

“Pops,you do remember flight regulations?” the captain reminded him gently.

“I’vegot it,” the ship’s AI stated, cleaning up the projected flight path.

“Spoilsport,” the otter stated.

Thecaptain snorted softly.

“Readyto implement.”

“Soordered. Send the command our regrets. Perhaps next time.”

“Ayeaye, sir. Message away. We are underway.”

Thecaptain nodded once and sat back and relaxed.

>>>~<<<

AdmiralTh’m’ll noted the courier’s departure and relaxed. He had offered to host thearmy general out of formality. He was pleased that the invitation had beendeclined. As much as his staff wanted him to make contacts with higher-ups he’drather not get involved. The sooner they were out of his AO, the better.

>>>~<<<

Ittook a day to get through the gates and to the Tortuga-Tau Gate Star Systemnext.

Popsmade a joke about the navy chauffeur service which was not well received by thecaptain. The otter shrugged and then set course for the jump point to thesector capital. Two days later they were back in hyperspace once more.

>>>~<<<

New Tau Metropolis

 

Shelbyalerted to the arrival of an inspection tour group in Tortuga. “Great, justwhat we don’t need.”

“Ma’am?”her AI asked.

“Acolonoscopy by DPs.” Shelby said in through disgust.

HerAI snorted in a mannerism she had copied from her principle. “I understand itis mostly made up of army personnel?”

“Withsome sprinkling of IG people and others. They will look for something. There isno such thing as a zero defect system anywhere. If there is, someone is hidingsomething.”

“Ah.”The AI paused and rapidly checked the schedule. “Well, they won’t be here for eightweeks, ma’am.”

“Lovely.Something to look forward to,” Shelby muttered.

>>>~<<<

Waynechecked on status. Rick Hunter’s Ninth Fleet was en route from 63 to the Confederation.At the moment, the ships were in hyperspace. They checked in regularly at eachstop. So far, no problems.

AdmiralSnake Charmer’s Tenth Fleet had gone back to Rho and had moved on to Sigma. Hehoped that they wouldn’t be missed too badly.

AdmiralKara Danvers was safely tucked away in 63. All other commands … his practicedeye scanned them almost unconsciously registering details. “Yep, all’s …,” hecaught himself just in time before he said the curse words.

Heglanced around and noted a gremlin watching him. “Yeah, I almost said it but I didn’tso, mmm,” he said as he stuck his tongue out at the apparition. Now that theyknew that the gremlins were real and watching them it was best not to temptthem by saying things like “all is quiet.” That was just asking for trouble.

Thegremlin’s reptilian eyes blinked and then it cackled and danced around and thendisappeared.

Hesnorted and shook his head before picking up his coffee cup and taking a sip.

>>>~<<<

Shelby 9 Snippet 3

 

 

TauR14G6-15 BlueWaters and Gentle Mist

 

AdmiralLobo tried to gently rub his brow. He was tired; his body was a bit crabby fromsitting for prolonged periods of time. He had a headache from reading, mostlikely eye strain and low blood sugar. And he needed food. Better food thantake out, which seemed to consume his world for the moment. His steward wasprobably getting tired of forcing sandwiches and soup on him.

Hewas starting to regret getting into a rebellion with the Confederation and intowhat was turning into a nasty situation with the Federation. He felt like hewas in a vice, and outside forces were turning the screws ever so slightly andcarefully … but relentlessly.

Eventuallysomething was bound to pop.

Hewanted to blame General Sedu and others, but he was a bit too self-honest withhimself. Sure, the deaths of the civilians in their stasis pods he could lay atstupidity and an accident. But … he made a puttering sound.

No,it was still on his watch. He should have had people paying more attention tosuch things.

Heglanced at the empty glass nearby and pushed it away with a flick of hisfingertip. The glass had weight on the bottom so it didn’t tip easily. Heturned away to look out the view screen to the star system.

Normallyhe loved the view; it helped to calm him. It reminded him of a night sky andstaring up at it in wonder as a calf. At the moment, it barely registered.

GeneralSedu had engineered the rebellion, insurrection, whatever you wanted to callit. He had to admit, he’d gone along with it when he had resented theConfederation surrendering to the Federation.

Ifthey’d only tried harder, gotten their timing right …

Hecut those errant thoughts off harshly. Coulda, woulda, shoulda wouldn’t changea damn thing. What happened was what happened. They needed to move forward.

Forthe moment, things were progressing. The New Tauren Confederation made up of sixinhabited and one empty star system was progressing. A fresh constitutionalconvention was in the works. They had their own Ansible network, which wasgrowing. Its bandwidth was limited, but it worked and best of all, it wasn’tcontrolled by the Confederation.

Heturned slightly to look at the status board. The locked-down Confederation Ansibleblinked a lurid red at him mockingly.

Hehated that. It meant that the Confederation knew that they were in revolt andwere doing something. He had no way of knowing what. Nothing good obviously.

Heglanced at the sector map. Their newly-minted capital was a binary star systemwith two agro worlds and a mixed population. They had orbital fortresses and asmall task force under his command. General Sedu controlled the ground forceswith an iron glove.

Theyhad the single shipyard in the star system. There were small repair yards hereand there, and some on their borders he was hoping to grab. At the moment, hewasn’t certain they were worth the risk.

Hehad too many fronts. The capital was wide open on their flanks and thatbothered him and kept him up at nights, especially with the Feds.

Hewinced slightly. Oh, how he regretted taking out that ship! If they’d onlysurrendered as planned …

Heflicked his head in a negative gesture. Again, it was over and done with. Hewas going to have to find a way to deal with an angry Federation at some point.

Thatwas a bleak thought he thought and then got up to visit the head. He needed toget some rest or he wasn’t going to be good for anything anymore.

>>>~<<<

CommanderBlack Tip flicked his black-tipped ears as he checked on the status of theprisoners and ships. So far so good, though he worried about any moreaccidents.

Hewas also concerned about the rebellion. Obviously talks with Admiral White Faceand Admiral Yen, not to mention the insurrection hadn’t gone over well. AdmiralLobo hadn’t said much but the lack of positive reports was enough to infer thatthey hadn’t gone well. And it was becoming something of an open secret that theAnsible was locked down and that the Confederation knew something was going on.

Heshook his head and then grunted. He noted that the admiral was going to bed andnodded in relief and agreement. Good. Now, he planned an unscheduled check onthe prisoners for later in the week and then he too would hand off his dutiesto the next in line and get some shut eye as well.

>>>~<<<

PlanetaryGovernor Dash of Gentle Mist nodded to his counterpart, Max, the planetarygovernor of Blue Waters. They waited outside the office of Governor Hard Tossor “interim president” as some were calling him these days.

Dashfelt an urge to check his watch but sat on it firmly. He didn’t need or want tolook impatient. He knew the game; hell, he’d used it often enough. Hard Tosswas playing a dominance game by having them wait in order to assert himself asthe dominant bull. They were the supplicants; he was the alpha.

Ofcourse they knew that already. They were also all busy and had full schedules.Besides, he had summoned them to the station, they could have held aconversation … well, no the damn distances between planets in the binary starsystem would have prevented a proper conversation. Still, this shit was gettingold.

“Comeon already,” Max muttered.

Dashfelt a bit of amusement and thrill of triumph at not being the one to break andshow annoyance first. He glanced at his partner and flicked his ears. Maxrolled his brown eyes in return and rubbed his hands on his knees.

“Stupidgames we play,” Max finally said impatient. “I have a schedule to keep.” He gotup and looked at his chief of staff and then over to the aide near the door.“When Governor Hard Toss is ready to reschedule, let me know,” he said flatly.

Dashblinked and then got up as well. He glanced uncertainly to the staff and guardsand then headed behind Max to the door.

Theaide immediately touched his ear and then cleared his throat.

Max’schief of staff paused in front of him and turned. The bulls turned one by oneback to the aide.

“Thegovernor’s call has ended, and he is ready to speak with you now.” The aidemade a show of turning a sweeping hand to the door and triggering the opening.

“Abouttime,” Max muttered as he changed course. The other bulls followed.

>>>~<<<