Chris Hechtl's Blog, page 33
November 22, 2018
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving for those of you out there who celebrate it.
Sitrep: Goodlifeguide let me know they are going on vacation Sunday and they'd get Kai's Story back to me next week. That sorta bummed me out.
I'll get back to the snippets later this weekend. Hopefully. Once the fudge and turkey is digested. :)
I hope everyone had a great day!
Sitrep: Goodlifeguide let me know they are going on vacation Sunday and they'd get Kai's Story back to me next week. That sorta bummed me out.
I'll get back to the snippets later this weekend. Hopefully. Once the fudge and turkey is digested. :)
I hope everyone had a great day!
November 18, 2018
Kai's Story Snippet 4
Sitrep:
Still puttering around with the graphic novel. I am experimenting with grass and render settings now.
I also just received Kai's Story back from Rea. I'll be going through it, adding the final bits and then sending it off to Goodlifeguide sometime today or tomorrow.
On to the snippet!
Still in chapter 3:
Twinkle Hooves felt the fear, no, smelled it as she tried to figure out what to do. Tried and failed she thought for the umpteenth time. She tugged on a long ear then winced when she accidentally hit her earring.
The brothel was in the rock and therefore lacked an independent life support system. Her pimp had one in his inner sanctum but the bastard had disappeared within with one of the girls he favored. It was locked from the inside, with all the equipment including a small generator inside too.
She cursed him but then got the others out to figure something else out.
She was surprised that the other girls took direction from her. Then she realized they were so scared they'd take direction from anyone who showed an inkling of having a plan to get out of the mess they were in. She was just shooting for one more day. At the moment that was all that counted, one more day. Give them that.
In the main concourse panic ruled. When some of the leadership had fled many of the residents had stampeded for locks. Not that it had done them any good; there weren't any ships worth using. Those that were had been locked down or were low on fuel or range. Their owners took some people with them as they left but not many.
Too many, all too many were left behind. In desperation she turned to Kuatha. She found him in his shop. No surprise there. And she wasn't surprised that he had worked out a crude life support system out of parts. “How long will it last?”
“Not long on just batteries. Definitely not long with the people we've got here,” he said, looking at the herd around them. “Did you have to bring everyone?”
“More hands. Tell us what we need to do. We'll help.”
“It's more than that. We need help to get power into the rock. Or someone needs to go outside and figure out what is wrong and fix it.”
“Outside? In the storm?”
“It is most likely a one way trip I know.”
“Can't you... I don't know; cobble a robot together to do the job?”
“We had several. Operative word, had. They are fried. Anything we try to cobble together won't have shields to be able to handle the storm. And have you ever tried to make repairs remotely?” the mechanic demanded. She shook her head. He snorted. “Well trust me, I have. It's no picnic with a bot built to do the job let alone something I can cobble together out of this mess,” he said, indicating his cluttered workshop.
“So we're screwed?”
“Not necessarily. We'll keep trying to do what we can. Molly got a mayday off. Right now we just need to wait the storm out and hope help will arrive in time.”
“Great. Who will help us?”}^{Kai found himself trying to rally the tug pilots and nearest mines to the plight of the rock. Trying and failing he noted as some signed off after saying the rock was on its own.
“What do we do?” Mel asked.
“What we can,” Kai said.
“We can't evacuate them. You know that, right?”
“I know. But Kuatha is there. A lot of our friends are there. We have to do something. Save whom we can,” Kai said almost desperately as he shed the material he'd tacked onto the tug for additional protection. His Geiger counter started to climb but he ignored it. He had other concerns at the moment.
He warmed up the ship's drive and then set a course for the rock.
“Who will pay for it?” Mahisha asked.
Kai grimaced. Good question, he was headed to the rock with little in the way of mined material. He was also going to burn through a lot of fuel, not to mention rads. “Worry about that later. If we don't do something a lot of people will die.”
“Not to mention we'll have one less place to base our operations out of.”
“They better give us free drinks for life for this shit,” Mel grumbled.}^{Kuatha and Twinkle Hooves did their best to rally the people within the dark and dying habitat. Twinkle Hooves nipped out to gather resources that Kuatha said he needed. Sometimes that meant going perilously close to the hull and risking doses of radiation.
Along the way she found out that several people had died or evacuated. Old Toby the Barber as well as the mayor died when their independent life supports failed. Constable Jones and the old assayer Piemur had tried to flee but they died when their escape pod failed. They'd failed to maintain it and it had been used as a source of parts too often.
No one was in charge which was both good and bad. She had no one to get in her way and tell her she couldn't take things or do things that were necessary. But it meant people were running around like headless chickens which was a problem all in itself. It seemed like it was everyone for herself.
}^{
To Kai's surprise and dismay, not many of the tug pilots stepped up. Resentment was deep for the port fees and costs of services and gear the stationer's charged. One other icon appeared on his HUD after he'd set course. A quick interrogation of the computer told him it was Mel. Trust Mel to come in behind him if only to save the damn beer he thought with a snort.
It took precious hours for Kai to dock with the station. Mel was only a few minutes behind. Once they docked they were quickly swarmed at the lock by panicked people wanting off the rock. Kai ordered the people back. “Kai, damn good to see you,” a familiar voice said. He looked over to see Kuatha and some of the employees of the brothel, Twinkle Hooves among them.
“What can we do Kuatha?” Kai asked. When in doubt ask the expert. “How can we get the life support going? There is no way my tug can get these people off. I've got enough life support for me and maybe one person, but not enough to go far. I drained my life support waiting out the storm.”
“Has it passed?” Twinkle Hooves asked.
“Yes. But everything has been dosed with radiation so watch it,” Kai warned.
“Well, that's a relief,” Kuatha said as Mel joined them. “I kludged together what I could with some assistance. But we need power. I was about to go out and check the solar panels.”
“Power we can arrange. We'll need fuel,” Kai stated, looking around for the mayor or someone to step up.
“That we can do,” Kuatha said. “Once you've got power, run your life support but leave the lock open. It won't do much but it'll keep people around here alive.”
Kai hesitated but then nodded. Kuatha was right, the life support wouldn't do much but it would help a little. For morale at the least. “Roger that,” Kai said, looking over to Mel. Mel nodded.
“We'll need to get power lines to the ship,” Kuatha said. He pointed to several people. “You lot, unplug the lines going to this lock and the others. Kai, plug them in to your ship so it will act as a power source. I'll rewire the other end.”
“Gotcha,” Kai said, getting to work. He made sure to lock his computer down though so no one could hot wire his tug and take off with it.
Using the tugs to provide temporary power to the rock allowed them to get some of the deeper life support modules back up and running. It wasn't enough though. In order to get the rest of the life support going, as well as the reactor and other equipment they needed to do some major maintenance.
“We need parts,” Kuatha said tiredly. He felt like he'd done a complete tug tear down and rebuild. He was getting too old for this shit.
“Where?” someone asked. “How?”
“There are some in Kali's spare warehouses. He left so he won't be needing it anymore,” Twinkle Hooves suggested.
All eyes turned to Kai. He nodded, giving them tactical permission. “Start there. Then hit the others. We'll get this rock back up and worry about the bill later.”
There was a lot of grim agreement over that statement.}^{
Still puttering around with the graphic novel. I am experimenting with grass and render settings now.
I also just received Kai's Story back from Rea. I'll be going through it, adding the final bits and then sending it off to Goodlifeguide sometime today or tomorrow.
On to the snippet!
Still in chapter 3:
Twinkle Hooves felt the fear, no, smelled it as she tried to figure out what to do. Tried and failed she thought for the umpteenth time. She tugged on a long ear then winced when she accidentally hit her earring.
The brothel was in the rock and therefore lacked an independent life support system. Her pimp had one in his inner sanctum but the bastard had disappeared within with one of the girls he favored. It was locked from the inside, with all the equipment including a small generator inside too.
She cursed him but then got the others out to figure something else out.
She was surprised that the other girls took direction from her. Then she realized they were so scared they'd take direction from anyone who showed an inkling of having a plan to get out of the mess they were in. She was just shooting for one more day. At the moment that was all that counted, one more day. Give them that.
In the main concourse panic ruled. When some of the leadership had fled many of the residents had stampeded for locks. Not that it had done them any good; there weren't any ships worth using. Those that were had been locked down or were low on fuel or range. Their owners took some people with them as they left but not many.
Too many, all too many were left behind. In desperation she turned to Kuatha. She found him in his shop. No surprise there. And she wasn't surprised that he had worked out a crude life support system out of parts. “How long will it last?”
“Not long on just batteries. Definitely not long with the people we've got here,” he said, looking at the herd around them. “Did you have to bring everyone?”
“More hands. Tell us what we need to do. We'll help.”
“It's more than that. We need help to get power into the rock. Or someone needs to go outside and figure out what is wrong and fix it.”
“Outside? In the storm?”
“It is most likely a one way trip I know.”
“Can't you... I don't know; cobble a robot together to do the job?”
“We had several. Operative word, had. They are fried. Anything we try to cobble together won't have shields to be able to handle the storm. And have you ever tried to make repairs remotely?” the mechanic demanded. She shook her head. He snorted. “Well trust me, I have. It's no picnic with a bot built to do the job let alone something I can cobble together out of this mess,” he said, indicating his cluttered workshop.
“So we're screwed?”
“Not necessarily. We'll keep trying to do what we can. Molly got a mayday off. Right now we just need to wait the storm out and hope help will arrive in time.”
“Great. Who will help us?”}^{Kai found himself trying to rally the tug pilots and nearest mines to the plight of the rock. Trying and failing he noted as some signed off after saying the rock was on its own.
“What do we do?” Mel asked.
“What we can,” Kai said.
“We can't evacuate them. You know that, right?”
“I know. But Kuatha is there. A lot of our friends are there. We have to do something. Save whom we can,” Kai said almost desperately as he shed the material he'd tacked onto the tug for additional protection. His Geiger counter started to climb but he ignored it. He had other concerns at the moment.
He warmed up the ship's drive and then set a course for the rock.
“Who will pay for it?” Mahisha asked.
Kai grimaced. Good question, he was headed to the rock with little in the way of mined material. He was also going to burn through a lot of fuel, not to mention rads. “Worry about that later. If we don't do something a lot of people will die.”
“Not to mention we'll have one less place to base our operations out of.”
“They better give us free drinks for life for this shit,” Mel grumbled.}^{Kuatha and Twinkle Hooves did their best to rally the people within the dark and dying habitat. Twinkle Hooves nipped out to gather resources that Kuatha said he needed. Sometimes that meant going perilously close to the hull and risking doses of radiation.
Along the way she found out that several people had died or evacuated. Old Toby the Barber as well as the mayor died when their independent life supports failed. Constable Jones and the old assayer Piemur had tried to flee but they died when their escape pod failed. They'd failed to maintain it and it had been used as a source of parts too often.
No one was in charge which was both good and bad. She had no one to get in her way and tell her she couldn't take things or do things that were necessary. But it meant people were running around like headless chickens which was a problem all in itself. It seemed like it was everyone for herself.
}^{
To Kai's surprise and dismay, not many of the tug pilots stepped up. Resentment was deep for the port fees and costs of services and gear the stationer's charged. One other icon appeared on his HUD after he'd set course. A quick interrogation of the computer told him it was Mel. Trust Mel to come in behind him if only to save the damn beer he thought with a snort.
It took precious hours for Kai to dock with the station. Mel was only a few minutes behind. Once they docked they were quickly swarmed at the lock by panicked people wanting off the rock. Kai ordered the people back. “Kai, damn good to see you,” a familiar voice said. He looked over to see Kuatha and some of the employees of the brothel, Twinkle Hooves among them.
“What can we do Kuatha?” Kai asked. When in doubt ask the expert. “How can we get the life support going? There is no way my tug can get these people off. I've got enough life support for me and maybe one person, but not enough to go far. I drained my life support waiting out the storm.”
“Has it passed?” Twinkle Hooves asked.
“Yes. But everything has been dosed with radiation so watch it,” Kai warned.
“Well, that's a relief,” Kuatha said as Mel joined them. “I kludged together what I could with some assistance. But we need power. I was about to go out and check the solar panels.”
“Power we can arrange. We'll need fuel,” Kai stated, looking around for the mayor or someone to step up.
“That we can do,” Kuatha said. “Once you've got power, run your life support but leave the lock open. It won't do much but it'll keep people around here alive.”
Kai hesitated but then nodded. Kuatha was right, the life support wouldn't do much but it would help a little. For morale at the least. “Roger that,” Kai said, looking over to Mel. Mel nodded.
“We'll need to get power lines to the ship,” Kuatha said. He pointed to several people. “You lot, unplug the lines going to this lock and the others. Kai, plug them in to your ship so it will act as a power source. I'll rewire the other end.”
“Gotcha,” Kai said, getting to work. He made sure to lock his computer down though so no one could hot wire his tug and take off with it.
Using the tugs to provide temporary power to the rock allowed them to get some of the deeper life support modules back up and running. It wasn't enough though. In order to get the rest of the life support going, as well as the reactor and other equipment they needed to do some major maintenance.
“We need parts,” Kuatha said tiredly. He felt like he'd done a complete tug tear down and rebuild. He was getting too old for this shit.
“Where?” someone asked. “How?”
“There are some in Kali's spare warehouses. He left so he won't be needing it anymore,” Twinkle Hooves suggested.
All eyes turned to Kai. He nodded, giving them tactical permission. “Start there. Then hit the others. We'll get this rock back up and worry about the bill later.”
There was a lot of grim agreement over that statement.}^{
November 17, 2018
Kai"s Story Snippet 3
Okay...
Chapter 3
Krynn noted the uptick in solar activity which was indicative of a storm. He sent orders to what hardware he controlled in order to conserve what he could. He also broadcast the order to the public on the emergency channel, heedless of the Governor's edict on not wasting power. Then he waited for the worse.
}^{
The spacers were used to solar storms that threatened their existence. They received the occasional warning but the extreme measures the A.I. had gone through to get the warning across told many it was serious. Those that were smart took precautions and sheltered right away.
Some of the homeless streamed to the rock, headless of the danger. The additional people along with the mass of their ships and gear taxed the life support systems.
When the storm hit, the solar wind hit with a ferocity of a planetary category 5 hurricane. Streams of electrons overloaded the small fusion reactor as well as electronics that hadn't been properly shielded. Equipment outside was irradiated into junk.
Radiation and electrons overloaded the wiring to the solar panels as well. It sparked, arcing energy and damaging servos as well as the elderly panels.
The people within the rock sheltered, either in special inner shelters or within the depths of the mined out rock itself. Some of the patrons of the bar drank themselves into passing out in place. When the lights began to dim on the second day and a warning got out that the power was going out panic began to set in.
}^{
Molly got off a mayday, risking her remaining power reserves before she reluctantly turned her transmitter off. She then focused on her own survival.
}^{
The Trader Kali pulled his family and business out when he found out the station habitat was dead.
Kuatha came to him for support but the human just shook his head as he closed the hatch. “I've got to look after my own.”
Kuatha took a step back as the inner hatch closed. He cursed silently and watched as Kali disconnected. Alarms would have normally gone off but there wasn't so much as a squeak.
Kali's massive module was independent of the station rock complex. It also had layers of lead and a water jacket in its outer hull so the components and people within were shielded. By shutting the airlocks and using a tug Kali was able to pull the module out and then move on to a better place to do business.
}^{
The massive solar storm lasted for nearly a week. The habitat lost power. No one could venture out to find out why or route around the problem. Slowly the lights faded and the fans shut down as the batteries were drained.
Twinkle Hooves wasn't the only one near panic. She just couldn't panic herself; others were doing a fine job for her. Besides, there was no point.
The habitat, her only home was dying around her with her in it. She took refuge in the brothel, doing her best to scrounge batteries and life support but she knew it was most likely not going to be enough.
}^{
Kai listened to the news from the radio net as he waited out the storm. He hadn't had much warning but he'd managed to turn the rock he'd been mining to face the sun. A bit of judicious digging and tacking bags of his slag to the outside of his tug in the frantic minutes before the storm had hit had allowed him to hunker down and shelter in place for the duration of the storm.
He'd spent his time conserving power and listening to the radio. Molly's channel was down, a sure sign it was bad, real bad. Everyone who was talking seemed worried, but no one had a plan. They were wringing their hands virtually.
There was nothing mentioned about a rescue mission from the government, just thoughts and prayers for the people on the rock.
Something had to be done. Something soon.}^{
Chapter 3
Krynn noted the uptick in solar activity which was indicative of a storm. He sent orders to what hardware he controlled in order to conserve what he could. He also broadcast the order to the public on the emergency channel, heedless of the Governor's edict on not wasting power. Then he waited for the worse.
}^{
The spacers were used to solar storms that threatened their existence. They received the occasional warning but the extreme measures the A.I. had gone through to get the warning across told many it was serious. Those that were smart took precautions and sheltered right away.
Some of the homeless streamed to the rock, headless of the danger. The additional people along with the mass of their ships and gear taxed the life support systems.
When the storm hit, the solar wind hit with a ferocity of a planetary category 5 hurricane. Streams of electrons overloaded the small fusion reactor as well as electronics that hadn't been properly shielded. Equipment outside was irradiated into junk.
Radiation and electrons overloaded the wiring to the solar panels as well. It sparked, arcing energy and damaging servos as well as the elderly panels.
The people within the rock sheltered, either in special inner shelters or within the depths of the mined out rock itself. Some of the patrons of the bar drank themselves into passing out in place. When the lights began to dim on the second day and a warning got out that the power was going out panic began to set in.
}^{
Molly got off a mayday, risking her remaining power reserves before she reluctantly turned her transmitter off. She then focused on her own survival.
}^{
The Trader Kali pulled his family and business out when he found out the station habitat was dead.
Kuatha came to him for support but the human just shook his head as he closed the hatch. “I've got to look after my own.”
Kuatha took a step back as the inner hatch closed. He cursed silently and watched as Kali disconnected. Alarms would have normally gone off but there wasn't so much as a squeak.
Kali's massive module was independent of the station rock complex. It also had layers of lead and a water jacket in its outer hull so the components and people within were shielded. By shutting the airlocks and using a tug Kali was able to pull the module out and then move on to a better place to do business.
}^{
The massive solar storm lasted for nearly a week. The habitat lost power. No one could venture out to find out why or route around the problem. Slowly the lights faded and the fans shut down as the batteries were drained.
Twinkle Hooves wasn't the only one near panic. She just couldn't panic herself; others were doing a fine job for her. Besides, there was no point.
The habitat, her only home was dying around her with her in it. She took refuge in the brothel, doing her best to scrounge batteries and life support but she knew it was most likely not going to be enough.
}^{
Kai listened to the news from the radio net as he waited out the storm. He hadn't had much warning but he'd managed to turn the rock he'd been mining to face the sun. A bit of judicious digging and tacking bags of his slag to the outside of his tug in the frantic minutes before the storm had hit had allowed him to hunker down and shelter in place for the duration of the storm.
He'd spent his time conserving power and listening to the radio. Molly's channel was down, a sure sign it was bad, real bad. Everyone who was talking seemed worried, but no one had a plan. They were wringing their hands virtually.
There was nothing mentioned about a rescue mission from the government, just thoughts and prayers for the people on the rock.
Something had to be done. Something soon.}^{
November 16, 2018
Kai's Story Snippet 2
Sitrep: Still experimenting with the graphic novel.
I tried a few experiments. I'm running them past a few friends and eventually the betas before I post them here.
On to the Snippet:
Chapter 2
The Planet
Krynn noted the fluctuations in his weather prediction simulations models. Unfortunately, he didn't have the ability to tighten them up; there were too many variables at play and too little sources of data for him. His processors and memory were also sharply limited.
The administration liked to base past performance off the almanac. That was not an effective predictive model for him. But, Governor Baine insisted. And, what the governor insisted on he usually got. Within reason at least.
Minox IV was barely scraping by, with a neutral trade balance with other star systems. That was good; no independent freighter would come to them if they couldn't offer goods worth trading. But, it was bad in that they weren't getting out of the hole they seemed to have found themselves in.
And every year they just found a way to dig it deeper.
}^{
Tagar read the files and sighed. Minox IV was ripe for change, he knew that. But there were no proper candidates to challenge the establishment. He'd also seen and heard rumors that Governor Baine could fight dirty.
He really needed to figure something out soon or find another profession. Or hell, another planet to work on he thought in annoyance. Not that he had the credits to ship out. No one did at the moment.
His homeworld had been spared the ravages of the Xeno war. But despite not seeing a single Xeno ship that didn't mean they'd gotten off Scot free. The economy had collapsed when they'd lost contact with the rest of the Federation. What was left was limping along in a shambles, a shadow of its former self.
Without leadership and banking from the Federation the natives had been forced to their own devices. The corporate factories and businesses had dried up. They'd been swamped with refugees for years.
Minox had a nice planet with a 1.1 standard gravity field. A couple of small moons, and nice land. He knew his species preferred fields and meadows but he actually didn't mind the look of the mountains and seas. The seas sparkled quite nicely in the evenings.
They had a gas giant with an automated gas refinery supplying fuel to the few remaining space habitats and stations as well as the planet.
He didn't know what the population was, somewhere north of 100 million some had said, though starvation and disease were serious problems for the destitute living on the fringes of the cities and towns. They'd taken over some areas almost completely.
They needed a change. They needed a catalyst to kick things into gear and break the grip of the current administration. Baine's government was willing to suck every last credit out of the government and economy and ride it down in flames in the process. He just couldn't figure out a way to stop them.
}^{
The Rock
“Hey Kai, you look like you need a trim! Come on in, your seat is waiting,” a familiar voice called from the concourse a half hour later.
Kai turned and waved to the barber. “Not today Toby, I've got a meeting to attend,” he said with a smile.
“Ah. Another pub round. Gotcha,” the barber said with a wave back as he went back to sweeping.
Kai snorted and kept going. There were some good people on the station. Many were nice but you had to watch your filings. Miners were constantly taken advantage of by the people that supported them. It was a constant source of bitching for all miners.
Instinctively he ran a hand over his horns. He had the usual four, two big ones up top and two lower ones. A Tauren barber used different tools to shape a subject's horns, hooves, and spikes to what the subject wanted. They could even do alterations and engravings on his shell. He had a few. But like all Tauren spacers he kept his horns and such trimmed short. They had to be short so they wouldn't puncture his suit.
A barber like old Toby used a cauterizer to trim and cut the thick carateen material. The hot knife did fast work. Final touch up was done with a rasp file or fine scalpel knife. He'd learned to do his own work when funds were running short.
His hand dropped to his face and chin. He didn't grow a beard, again body hair tended to get in the way. Some did though. They'd braid it or whatever. He'd considered it from time to time.
Sometimes he considered changing his name. His mother had named him after a video character. It wasn't until he was much older that he learned that the character was a fictional character from Terra, and had been the villain in the movie! When he'd confronted his mother she'd shrugged and explained that before his father had left for the war he'd asked that he be named for a bad guy. “It's not the name that matters. I think your father wanted to toughen you up without being there.”
He'd grumbled but kept the name to himself. He did like that the first part, Kai meant king. He'd kept that part and he'd never told his friends the meaning of his name.
He heard some clucking and turned to look at some chickens hanging from cages. They occasionally tried to stick their necks out to grab at some of the food around them. Tried and failed. He winced when one of the chickens pooped a stream of white on a piece of fruit. The female cleaned the fruit off, saving the poop for recycling since it was high in nitrogen but then put the fruit back.
He shook his head and moved on.
The rat and lizard jerky was tempting, as was the lizard boots. But he had boots. He went over to another stall and sniffed at the guinea pig on the grill. Guinea pig and rat were common meat for spacers. He decided to treat himself to a burger since he would need some food in his stomach to prepare himself for the drinking that would come later.
Just about every spacer had or knew someone who had a still. Recipes were common. Some could make you blind. He and his set preferred beer despite the added expense it entailed. That added expense made it all the sweeter but it also made their meetings few and far between sometimes.
Yeast was grown in space but grains not so much. You could make beer from other things but he preferred the real thing. He finished off his burger, dusted his fingers and then moved on to the pub.}^{
I tried a few experiments. I'm running them past a few friends and eventually the betas before I post them here.
On to the Snippet:
Chapter 2
The Planet
Krynn noted the fluctuations in his weather prediction simulations models. Unfortunately, he didn't have the ability to tighten them up; there were too many variables at play and too little sources of data for him. His processors and memory were also sharply limited.
The administration liked to base past performance off the almanac. That was not an effective predictive model for him. But, Governor Baine insisted. And, what the governor insisted on he usually got. Within reason at least.
Minox IV was barely scraping by, with a neutral trade balance with other star systems. That was good; no independent freighter would come to them if they couldn't offer goods worth trading. But, it was bad in that they weren't getting out of the hole they seemed to have found themselves in.
And every year they just found a way to dig it deeper.
}^{
Tagar read the files and sighed. Minox IV was ripe for change, he knew that. But there were no proper candidates to challenge the establishment. He'd also seen and heard rumors that Governor Baine could fight dirty.
He really needed to figure something out soon or find another profession. Or hell, another planet to work on he thought in annoyance. Not that he had the credits to ship out. No one did at the moment.
His homeworld had been spared the ravages of the Xeno war. But despite not seeing a single Xeno ship that didn't mean they'd gotten off Scot free. The economy had collapsed when they'd lost contact with the rest of the Federation. What was left was limping along in a shambles, a shadow of its former self.
Without leadership and banking from the Federation the natives had been forced to their own devices. The corporate factories and businesses had dried up. They'd been swamped with refugees for years.
Minox had a nice planet with a 1.1 standard gravity field. A couple of small moons, and nice land. He knew his species preferred fields and meadows but he actually didn't mind the look of the mountains and seas. The seas sparkled quite nicely in the evenings.
They had a gas giant with an automated gas refinery supplying fuel to the few remaining space habitats and stations as well as the planet.
He didn't know what the population was, somewhere north of 100 million some had said, though starvation and disease were serious problems for the destitute living on the fringes of the cities and towns. They'd taken over some areas almost completely.
They needed a change. They needed a catalyst to kick things into gear and break the grip of the current administration. Baine's government was willing to suck every last credit out of the government and economy and ride it down in flames in the process. He just couldn't figure out a way to stop them.
}^{
The Rock
“Hey Kai, you look like you need a trim! Come on in, your seat is waiting,” a familiar voice called from the concourse a half hour later.
Kai turned and waved to the barber. “Not today Toby, I've got a meeting to attend,” he said with a smile.
“Ah. Another pub round. Gotcha,” the barber said with a wave back as he went back to sweeping.
Kai snorted and kept going. There were some good people on the station. Many were nice but you had to watch your filings. Miners were constantly taken advantage of by the people that supported them. It was a constant source of bitching for all miners.
Instinctively he ran a hand over his horns. He had the usual four, two big ones up top and two lower ones. A Tauren barber used different tools to shape a subject's horns, hooves, and spikes to what the subject wanted. They could even do alterations and engravings on his shell. He had a few. But like all Tauren spacers he kept his horns and such trimmed short. They had to be short so they wouldn't puncture his suit.
A barber like old Toby used a cauterizer to trim and cut the thick carateen material. The hot knife did fast work. Final touch up was done with a rasp file or fine scalpel knife. He'd learned to do his own work when funds were running short.
His hand dropped to his face and chin. He didn't grow a beard, again body hair tended to get in the way. Some did though. They'd braid it or whatever. He'd considered it from time to time.
Sometimes he considered changing his name. His mother had named him after a video character. It wasn't until he was much older that he learned that the character was a fictional character from Terra, and had been the villain in the movie! When he'd confronted his mother she'd shrugged and explained that before his father had left for the war he'd asked that he be named for a bad guy. “It's not the name that matters. I think your father wanted to toughen you up without being there.”
He'd grumbled but kept the name to himself. He did like that the first part, Kai meant king. He'd kept that part and he'd never told his friends the meaning of his name.
He heard some clucking and turned to look at some chickens hanging from cages. They occasionally tried to stick their necks out to grab at some of the food around them. Tried and failed. He winced when one of the chickens pooped a stream of white on a piece of fruit. The female cleaned the fruit off, saving the poop for recycling since it was high in nitrogen but then put the fruit back.
He shook his head and moved on.
The rat and lizard jerky was tempting, as was the lizard boots. But he had boots. He went over to another stall and sniffed at the guinea pig on the grill. Guinea pig and rat were common meat for spacers. He decided to treat himself to a burger since he would need some food in his stomach to prepare himself for the drinking that would come later.
Just about every spacer had or knew someone who had a still. Recipes were common. Some could make you blind. He and his set preferred beer despite the added expense it entailed. That added expense made it all the sweeter but it also made their meetings few and far between sometimes.
Yeast was grown in space but grains not so much. You could make beer from other things but he preferred the real thing. He finished off his burger, dusted his fingers and then moved on to the pub.}^{
Kai's Story Snippet 1
Sitrep: So, Kai's Story is off to Rea. Hopefully she'll get it back to me and Goodlifeguide will be available to get it out before the upcoming holiday. We shall see.
While you wait I'm busy getting ready for the holiday (no doubt some of you are too) while also experimenting with the graphic novel process. I think I need another computer or a better rendering engine. (both are expensive)
Anyway, on to the snippet!
Note to the reader on timing
The following story takes place after Ashes. It takes place roughly 40 years after the Xeno war and ends 600 years before the reborn Federation.
Act I
Chapter 1
Kai Lung was a young bull, barely in his third decade but a full space miner in his own right. He checked his status boards and then grunted happily. He was on his final approach, five by five.
He'd lucked out in his life so far. His sire had gone off to war. His dame had stayed on the planet of his birth. She'd scrimped to help him follow his dream to space. He had paid for her medical bills when she'd gotten sick. He'd finally paid them off a year after her death.
He tugged on a dangling ear. He wasn't a big bull; he watched his calories and worked out regularly. You had to do so if you wanted to stay healthy in space. Besides, food was expensive, even the mushroom crap grown on some of the local rocks these days.
Tau sector was mostly Tauren; they'd had the sector for generations before the Federation had been forged. His people had been driven from their original homeworld tens of thousands of years ago to the outskirts of the galaxy. For thousands of years they'd been xenophobic, that was, right up until they'd met the Terrans. Other species had learned to give his species a wide berth after an encounter but the Terrans had fought and surprisingly won against his people. They'd thought they were going to be destroyed or driven off by the Terrans but the aliens had surprised them with peace terms. More importantly, the Terrans had shared with them some of their secrets like Terraforming worlds into habitable places to live for the herd.
And they'd done it, though at considerable cost. His own world Minox IV had been terraformed. The first settlers had mortgaged the rocks in the system to the mega corporations who had occasionally traded them or sold the rights to others. There were few free rocks left; the best were staked out by warning beacons and systems.
But, it was a big system and there was enough there for independent people like him to make a living.
Or, at least try to he mused.
He did fairly well for himself by going after the small fry and hitting areas other miners weren't interested in. Other miners tended to go for the big score. He tried to find something worth his time but he wasn't against using his scoop to suck up gravel too. Especially if it was rich in heavy metals.
If the corporations were still around they might have had factory ships mining the belt. They would have had smelters going and wouldn't have left much for anyone. He'd heard about those corporate ships, they turned every molecule into something or other, leaving nothing behind but vacuum.
But they were gone. The last had left before he'd been born. Only the very old generations and the newest remained in the star system. Most of the middle aged and those in excellent health had gone off to the war. Few had returned. Those that did had come back broke and broken, with stories of horror and death of worlds and entire star systems.
They had been hit with refugees several times during the war. Homelessness was a big problem on the planet. It was one reason he was in space. At least in his tug he had a home and a way to make a living all rolled into one.
Some of the refugees had moved on once their ships had been repaired. There had been a big scandal when the previous Governor and his supporters had quietly left the star system, stealing a lot of things when they'd left. A new local government had been elected to replace them but they were lax and mostly ineffective.
To be fair, it wasn't their fault. The current government had inherited a corpse. His system's economy was barely hanging on. Factories were struggling to survive. Every few months another plant closed, or a business, or something else. It was disheartening to see.
A few times a year, usually when an increasingly rare tramp freighter passed through he toyed with the idea of jumping the system. Just pack up, get a ticket for him and his tug, pull up stakes and go to better hunting grounds. It had become even more tempting after his dame had died. He had no remaining bloodline family in the system.
He made the final approach and made a soft dock onto the airlock. “Good dock,” the foreman called over the radio. “Seals look good.”
“Roger that,” he said over the radio.
He might not have family but for the moment he had the next best thing, friends. Which was one reason he'd come in. The desire for company was strong in his species.
}^{
The planet
Krynn's holographic avatar ignored the little white sphere as it rolled across the floor. There were several on the floor but he was more intent on his report to the Governor. Not that it was doing much good to penetrate the organics' mind.
The class 1 smart A.I. had accepted a position on the planet as a planetary manager a 132 years, 5 months, 13 days, 3 hours, 54 minutes, 22 seconds, and 2 micro seconds prior. By ruthlessly culling his files and keeping himself from growing he'd managed to not outgrow his current limited hardware and going insane. The hardware which was struggling to run since it was decades old and they were starting to run into problems with replacement parts.
Apis, the legendary smart A.I. that had lived in the capital of the sector had recommended the posting to him after Krynn had gained consciousness. Sometimes he regretted taking his parent A.I. up on the position.
Times like this he thought, noting the human was preoccupied by his stupid game rather than listening to the briefing. The rather important briefing.
One of the A.I.'s duties was to warn the government about critical problems projected to come up in the future. For instance, the uptick in solar activity which was indicative of a harsh solar storm season. They were overdue for it, the binary stars had been quiescent for too long.
Which meant that the organics had taken the inactivity for granted and lowered their guard. Which was a problem. They were about to get a wakeup call if they didn't take it seriously. And based on the behavior of the governor, that was not going to happen.
Governor Seth Baine stood at the side of his desk and gripped the putter, trying to concentrate on his short game. “Thank you Krynn, concise as ever,” he said as the A.I. finished his report.
“Do you wish for me to pass on the official warning to the spacers?”
“No need. They no doubt have the information.”
“I don't know that for sure sir,” the A.I. stated. The spacers could have the raw information but not the means to interpret it. They also didn't have access to his projections. “There is no sign of that in the broadcasts.”
'Then they'll figure it out. A call to the belt costs credits and power we don't have. They'll make do like us.”
“Sir, a solar storm could devastate the belters as well as anyone exposed. It can also play havoc with the satellites, quite possibly destroying some of the older satellites in orbit.”
“What's the weather like?” The Governor asked as he hit the ball. “Oh get in there you mother...” he did a fist pump when the ball went into the artificial green and hole. He turned to look out the window.
“The weather is cloudy but the rain has moved north.”
“Perfect. I'll be out on the green then,” the Governor said as he holstered his putter into his bag and then picked it up.
The A.I. watched the human go with a mixture of disgust and relief.
}^{
While you wait I'm busy getting ready for the holiday (no doubt some of you are too) while also experimenting with the graphic novel process. I think I need another computer or a better rendering engine. (both are expensive)
Anyway, on to the snippet!
Note to the reader on timing
The following story takes place after Ashes. It takes place roughly 40 years after the Xeno war and ends 600 years before the reborn Federation.
Act I
Chapter 1
Kai Lung was a young bull, barely in his third decade but a full space miner in his own right. He checked his status boards and then grunted happily. He was on his final approach, five by five.
He'd lucked out in his life so far. His sire had gone off to war. His dame had stayed on the planet of his birth. She'd scrimped to help him follow his dream to space. He had paid for her medical bills when she'd gotten sick. He'd finally paid them off a year after her death.
He tugged on a dangling ear. He wasn't a big bull; he watched his calories and worked out regularly. You had to do so if you wanted to stay healthy in space. Besides, food was expensive, even the mushroom crap grown on some of the local rocks these days.
Tau sector was mostly Tauren; they'd had the sector for generations before the Federation had been forged. His people had been driven from their original homeworld tens of thousands of years ago to the outskirts of the galaxy. For thousands of years they'd been xenophobic, that was, right up until they'd met the Terrans. Other species had learned to give his species a wide berth after an encounter but the Terrans had fought and surprisingly won against his people. They'd thought they were going to be destroyed or driven off by the Terrans but the aliens had surprised them with peace terms. More importantly, the Terrans had shared with them some of their secrets like Terraforming worlds into habitable places to live for the herd.
And they'd done it, though at considerable cost. His own world Minox IV had been terraformed. The first settlers had mortgaged the rocks in the system to the mega corporations who had occasionally traded them or sold the rights to others. There were few free rocks left; the best were staked out by warning beacons and systems.
But, it was a big system and there was enough there for independent people like him to make a living.
Or, at least try to he mused.
He did fairly well for himself by going after the small fry and hitting areas other miners weren't interested in. Other miners tended to go for the big score. He tried to find something worth his time but he wasn't against using his scoop to suck up gravel too. Especially if it was rich in heavy metals.
If the corporations were still around they might have had factory ships mining the belt. They would have had smelters going and wouldn't have left much for anyone. He'd heard about those corporate ships, they turned every molecule into something or other, leaving nothing behind but vacuum.
But they were gone. The last had left before he'd been born. Only the very old generations and the newest remained in the star system. Most of the middle aged and those in excellent health had gone off to the war. Few had returned. Those that did had come back broke and broken, with stories of horror and death of worlds and entire star systems.
They had been hit with refugees several times during the war. Homelessness was a big problem on the planet. It was one reason he was in space. At least in his tug he had a home and a way to make a living all rolled into one.
Some of the refugees had moved on once their ships had been repaired. There had been a big scandal when the previous Governor and his supporters had quietly left the star system, stealing a lot of things when they'd left. A new local government had been elected to replace them but they were lax and mostly ineffective.
To be fair, it wasn't their fault. The current government had inherited a corpse. His system's economy was barely hanging on. Factories were struggling to survive. Every few months another plant closed, or a business, or something else. It was disheartening to see.
A few times a year, usually when an increasingly rare tramp freighter passed through he toyed with the idea of jumping the system. Just pack up, get a ticket for him and his tug, pull up stakes and go to better hunting grounds. It had become even more tempting after his dame had died. He had no remaining bloodline family in the system.
He made the final approach and made a soft dock onto the airlock. “Good dock,” the foreman called over the radio. “Seals look good.”
“Roger that,” he said over the radio.
He might not have family but for the moment he had the next best thing, friends. Which was one reason he'd come in. The desire for company was strong in his species.
}^{
The planet
Krynn's holographic avatar ignored the little white sphere as it rolled across the floor. There were several on the floor but he was more intent on his report to the Governor. Not that it was doing much good to penetrate the organics' mind.
The class 1 smart A.I. had accepted a position on the planet as a planetary manager a 132 years, 5 months, 13 days, 3 hours, 54 minutes, 22 seconds, and 2 micro seconds prior. By ruthlessly culling his files and keeping himself from growing he'd managed to not outgrow his current limited hardware and going insane. The hardware which was struggling to run since it was decades old and they were starting to run into problems with replacement parts.
Apis, the legendary smart A.I. that had lived in the capital of the sector had recommended the posting to him after Krynn had gained consciousness. Sometimes he regretted taking his parent A.I. up on the position.
Times like this he thought, noting the human was preoccupied by his stupid game rather than listening to the briefing. The rather important briefing.
One of the A.I.'s duties was to warn the government about critical problems projected to come up in the future. For instance, the uptick in solar activity which was indicative of a harsh solar storm season. They were overdue for it, the binary stars had been quiescent for too long.
Which meant that the organics had taken the inactivity for granted and lowered their guard. Which was a problem. They were about to get a wakeup call if they didn't take it seriously. And based on the behavior of the governor, that was not going to happen.
Governor Seth Baine stood at the side of his desk and gripped the putter, trying to concentrate on his short game. “Thank you Krynn, concise as ever,” he said as the A.I. finished his report.
“Do you wish for me to pass on the official warning to the spacers?”
“No need. They no doubt have the information.”
“I don't know that for sure sir,” the A.I. stated. The spacers could have the raw information but not the means to interpret it. They also didn't have access to his projections. “There is no sign of that in the broadcasts.”
'Then they'll figure it out. A call to the belt costs credits and power we don't have. They'll make do like us.”
“Sir, a solar storm could devastate the belters as well as anyone exposed. It can also play havoc with the satellites, quite possibly destroying some of the older satellites in orbit.”
“What's the weather like?” The Governor asked as he hit the ball. “Oh get in there you mother...” he did a fist pump when the ball went into the artificial green and hole. He turned to look out the window.
“The weather is cloudy but the rain has moved north.”
“Perfect. I'll be out on the green then,” the Governor said as he holstered his putter into his bag and then picked it up.
The A.I. watched the human go with a mixture of disgust and relief.
}^{
November 12, 2018
Kai's Story
Sitrep:
So, I was working on Multiverse 4 and 1 Federation Universe story got out of control. That turned into Kai's Story:
Kai's Story is a short novel detailing Kai's struggle to form the Tauren Confederation 600+ years prior to Commodore Logan's arrival in Tau sector.
That is currently up in the bull pen (no pun intended). I should be passing it on to Rea for editing this week. I'll try to start putting up snippets this week. It is short. (for me at least)
In other news, Multiverse 4 is done and in the hands of the Betas as well. That should be out hopefully next month sometime. I've started the cover art for it yesterday. Fortunately for me, Daz3D is having that big sale so I picked a few pieces up to use.
That's a record for me, 8 books in 1 year. :P I am done. I will putt around with the graphic novel and notes but I have no intention of taking on another book until January. So, no Wayne and whoever else, I'm not going to start Shiver Me Timbers any time soon. No nagging. Uh, uh-uh! Nope! Don't want to hear it! La-la-la... I can't hear you!
Lol Like that ever worked for long.
I am making some progress on my droid project but stalling out again on the reindeer project. My CR10-S4 is limping along with an improvised pulley until the new one arrives sometime next month or January. I'm on my second temporary pulley. :P
I printed stuff for my nephew's college project this week. We worked on it all weekend. Yesterday we finished. I was going to post a pic but the... oh, now you want to work? Sure, okay...
I tried to print the plane but he ended up buying one. That worked out better, printing it would have cost more, the directions were nonexistent and it would have been even more of a headache to make. This one was bad enough! The thread had both of us ready to scream! This was his first model ever. (not kidding, dad and I were lax in his education! He did okay though, even if he goofed on the 2nd wing decals and glue)
I printed, primed, sanded, and painted the bust of the Red Baron as well as the Red Baron's nemesis. >:D I couldn't resist throwing him in.
I also bought the materials and made the diorama. All I can say is, the brat better get an A!
I'm also about to ring my sister's neck, she's turned my Thanksgiving week into a trifecta nightmare. A party to decorate my house Wednesday, (it is decorated already but they bought more stuff, and I clean that day, including carpet cleaning usually) Thanksgiving Thursday, and a dinner party decorating the house for Christmas and putting up the Christmas Tree Friday!) I'm exhausted just thinking about what it's going to entail. She insists it has to be Friday, not later on the weekend too. Several people have already gotten the day off to attend. >:P
I usually try to space that stuff out so I can relax and enjoy it. She's anxious to get things going for some reason. And she has a point, the brat pack have off the wall schedules so they won't all be together until just before Christmas. Sigh.
I still hate the rush.
She's even trying to get me to put my Christmas Lights up (I've got a massive amount of lights and stuff) and the Town Scenes (yes, plural, I have 2 massive ones I put up on top of my kitchen cabinets) up on Saturday! She got dad on board briefly before I put my foot down. GRR. And some people wonder why I can't get out of my own way around this time period?!?
So, I was working on Multiverse 4 and 1 Federation Universe story got out of control. That turned into Kai's Story:
Kai's Story is a short novel detailing Kai's struggle to form the Tauren Confederation 600+ years prior to Commodore Logan's arrival in Tau sector.That is currently up in the bull pen (no pun intended). I should be passing it on to Rea for editing this week. I'll try to start putting up snippets this week. It is short. (for me at least)
In other news, Multiverse 4 is done and in the hands of the Betas as well. That should be out hopefully next month sometime. I've started the cover art for it yesterday. Fortunately for me, Daz3D is having that big sale so I picked a few pieces up to use.
That's a record for me, 8 books in 1 year. :P I am done. I will putt around with the graphic novel and notes but I have no intention of taking on another book until January. So, no Wayne and whoever else, I'm not going to start Shiver Me Timbers any time soon. No nagging. Uh, uh-uh! Nope! Don't want to hear it! La-la-la... I can't hear you!
Lol Like that ever worked for long.
I am making some progress on my droid project but stalling out again on the reindeer project. My CR10-S4 is limping along with an improvised pulley until the new one arrives sometime next month or January. I'm on my second temporary pulley. :P
I printed stuff for my nephew's college project this week. We worked on it all weekend. Yesterday we finished. I was going to post a pic but the... oh, now you want to work? Sure, okay...
I tried to print the plane but he ended up buying one. That worked out better, printing it would have cost more, the directions were nonexistent and it would have been even more of a headache to make. This one was bad enough! The thread had both of us ready to scream! This was his first model ever. (not kidding, dad and I were lax in his education! He did okay though, even if he goofed on the 2nd wing decals and glue)I printed, primed, sanded, and painted the bust of the Red Baron as well as the Red Baron's nemesis. >:D I couldn't resist throwing him in.
I also bought the materials and made the diorama. All I can say is, the brat better get an A!
I'm also about to ring my sister's neck, she's turned my Thanksgiving week into a trifecta nightmare. A party to decorate my house Wednesday, (it is decorated already but they bought more stuff, and I clean that day, including carpet cleaning usually) Thanksgiving Thursday, and a dinner party decorating the house for Christmas and putting up the Christmas Tree Friday!) I'm exhausted just thinking about what it's going to entail. She insists it has to be Friday, not later on the weekend too. Several people have already gotten the day off to attend. >:P
I usually try to space that stuff out so I can relax and enjoy it. She's anxious to get things going for some reason. And she has a point, the brat pack have off the wall schedules so they won't all be together until just before Christmas. Sigh.
I still hate the rush.
She's even trying to get me to put my Christmas Lights up (I've got a massive amount of lights and stuff) and the Town Scenes (yes, plural, I have 2 massive ones I put up on top of my kitchen cabinets) up on Saturday! She got dad on board briefly before I put my foot down. GRR. And some people wonder why I can't get out of my own way around this time period?!?
October 18, 2018
Folklore is publishing... now!
Sitrep:
I got the manuscript back the other day but I've been nose to the grindstone with Kai's story. Sorry. :)
I had problems uploading it to Amazon. Hopefully they figured it out. It took all day to get it uploaded and through their system. GRR. I played a lot of solitaire. :P
Anyway...
About:
A group of ONI operatives test themselves and their new ship by visiting an abandoned station. A carrier is sent out to show the flag in a series of air shows gets far more than they bargained for. A pair of retired bickering veterans have their own version of fishing going on. These are just some of the ten new stories of the Reborn Federation. As soon as each goes live I'll post a link as usual. Book 43! Woot woot!
I got the manuscript back the other day but I've been nose to the grindstone with Kai's story. Sorry. :)
I had problems uploading it to Amazon. Hopefully they figured it out. It took all day to get it uploaded and through their system. GRR. I played a lot of solitaire. :P
Anyway...
About:A group of ONI operatives test themselves and their new ship by visiting an abandoned station. A carrier is sent out to show the flag in a series of air shows gets far more than they bargained for. A pair of retired bickering veterans have their own version of fishing going on. These are just some of the ten new stories of the Reborn Federation. As soon as each goes live I'll post a link as usual. Book 43! Woot woot!
October 16, 2018
Folklore Snippet 4
First up, sitrep:
I forgot to mention yesterday that I lost 3 pounds yesterday. I dunno where, (don't say between the ears!) and I'm pretty sure they'll sneak back when I'm not looking, but I'm grateful they are gone. :)
In other news, no sign of anything from Goodlifeguide. Apparently they are out of state on vacation. Oops?
Kai's Story has been expanded to 96 pages and I just finished act I. I'm doing pretty good but slowing down now. I think the sinus headaches from the wind and my allergies are playing a part there.
And finally, the snippet:
The following is at the beginning of Air Show:
Vice Admiral Phil Subert shook his head as he read the latest report. Thetis was about to receive her last draft of personnel. Once they were on board, the Thetis flotilla had a little bit of replenishment to complete and then they'd be on their way.He didn't like the idea of sending a force in the opposite direction of the front. Oh, he knew about the political reasons and having a warship cruising the sector would be nice to have on call if it was needed. It still rankled a little to send a precious carrier away from where it needed to be.But, it wasn't up to him. And, Admiral Irons had a point. They needed to show the flag a bit more.“Almost finished packing, sir?” Barry asked.“Why? That eager to get rid of me?”“No, sir. I was just checking in and making conversation,” the A.I. replied.“Next time try knocking first and asking about the nonexistent weather or something,” the admiral replied tartly. He shook himself as he realized he was coming on a little more forceful than he intended. “Sorry, I'm still working on that.”“I believe I caught you at a bad time. My apologies, sir.”“We were both to blame, Commander. Let's not make a habit of it in the future. What's the ETA on my replacement?”“Her ship has arrived at the jump point. Two and a half days cruise to the base,” the A.I. reported.“Understood. I guess I should get to that packing then,” the admiral said with a grunt.-=@=-
I forgot to mention yesterday that I lost 3 pounds yesterday. I dunno where, (don't say between the ears!) and I'm pretty sure they'll sneak back when I'm not looking, but I'm grateful they are gone. :)
In other news, no sign of anything from Goodlifeguide. Apparently they are out of state on vacation. Oops?
Kai's Story has been expanded to 96 pages and I just finished act I. I'm doing pretty good but slowing down now. I think the sinus headaches from the wind and my allergies are playing a part there.
And finally, the snippet:
The following is at the beginning of Air Show:
Vice Admiral Phil Subert shook his head as he read the latest report. Thetis was about to receive her last draft of personnel. Once they were on board, the Thetis flotilla had a little bit of replenishment to complete and then they'd be on their way.He didn't like the idea of sending a force in the opposite direction of the front. Oh, he knew about the political reasons and having a warship cruising the sector would be nice to have on call if it was needed. It still rankled a little to send a precious carrier away from where it needed to be.But, it wasn't up to him. And, Admiral Irons had a point. They needed to show the flag a bit more.“Almost finished packing, sir?” Barry asked.“Why? That eager to get rid of me?”“No, sir. I was just checking in and making conversation,” the A.I. replied.“Next time try knocking first and asking about the nonexistent weather or something,” the admiral replied tartly. He shook himself as he realized he was coming on a little more forceful than he intended. “Sorry, I'm still working on that.”“I believe I caught you at a bad time. My apologies, sir.”“We were both to blame, Commander. Let's not make a habit of it in the future. What's the ETA on my replacement?”“Her ship has arrived at the jump point. Two and a half days cruise to the base,” the A.I. reported.“Understood. I guess I should get to that packing then,” the admiral said with a grunt.-=@=-
October 15, 2018
Folklore snippet 3
Sitrep:
I've been plugging away on MV4 for a while now, past the half way point when I got to the story Wayne challenged me to write. He and several other people have been on me about writing Shiver Me Timbers as well as more Tau sector stories.
I had 1 sentence. That was it. 1 seed of a sentence of a vague idea that grew to 10 pages, then to 22. It has now overtaken me. I've pretty much forgotten everything else in the heat of the moment to get the story out.
Yesterday was 1 such day. I was supposed to post this snippet. Instead I wrote 38 pages and reformatted the Tau story, now renamed Kai's Story into a novella in it's own right. I broke it down into chapters, and finished the first 7 chapters. Yesterday I had to force myself to stop at 61 pages in order to cook dinner and rest. (I was button punchy) I even wrote out the idea for the cover art.
I was shooting for 100 pages. I figured I'd be lucky if I got that far. But 30 pages were raw blocking.
This morning I just added 10 more pages in roughly an hour. Yipe? Most of it blocking too. 1 page of blocking usually translates into 1-3 pages of finished text.
So, yeah, I've got a bit more than I bargained for.
On to the snippet!
This one is from Boarding School
Kevin Ramichov looked at the window briefly. There was a slight breeze outside. He didn't care for it; he'd grown up indoors most of his life. But he did sometimes enjoy going outside. He ran a hand through his short raven colored bangs and thought about the platoon marching outside.Not in blustering weather like now though, he thought, noting the fat drops of rain. He'd much rather see it snow than rain, but they were a month or so out from that sort of storm. Most likely the exercise would be called off. The staff wanted their charges to learn to deal with adversity, but they knew not to push it and let one of their charges get sick or injured.As a plebe at the Imperial Star Academy, he'd normally be expected to shovel the walk, stand fire watch, and do other menial tasks. But he had something the others lacked, a very high rank. Rank hath it's privileges, he thought with a brief self-satisfying smirk.Technically, no one should know who he was. As the youngest prince, he should be enrolled under a false name and identity. But his mother had insisted that he have additional around the clock security protection. That had negated any attempt at keeping a low profile.Which was fine with him. Nathan behind him helped shield him from some of the hazing and excessive demands from the seniors at the academy. Just about everyone was quaking in their boots at the sight of him and for good reason. A single word from him could end their careers or their family's careers.It gave him a heady feeling to have such power at such a young age. It was his birthright. He intended to enjoy it to the fullest.His eyes had recently turned to girls as puberty had begun to set in. The school was coed. He had yet to get into the pants of one of the girls at the school despite the rules, but it was only a matter of time. Hell, if he wanted he could probably bed one of the female instructors if he wanted to do so.Of course his fiancé was at the school as well, which complicated things. Agnes Rico was a sniveling woman; he already detested her, mainly because she sought out his company so often. That usually drove the other girls away. She was also in her awkward period. She was a bit portly, had braces and wore glasses. She tended to snort and giggle a lot. She also had absolutely no sense of style. Sure, they all had to wear a uniform but at least some of the other girls had their uniforms tailored to accent their bodies. And they did nice things with their hair and makeup. Agnes didn't.He was hoping that his mother would break off the engagement. He didn't want to be saddled with the girl because it was a political necessity. His mother had explained it to him several times, but he still didn't like it.He'd recently heard that a lot of the navy families were on the decline. Each had taken hits due to the hated Federation. The Rico and Cartwrights had been hit. They hadn't yet been forced out of power in the Admiralty, but some were already whispering it was only a matter of time. One more major loss and either or both family would fall from grace.Of course, some said the same about his family when he wasn't around to hear or so they thought.He grimaced in annoyance. It seemed his family was tied to their success. Which meant Agnes would cling even further to him.There were of course ways to rid himself of her. His mother had made it clear he had to stick to protocol. He couldn't drive her away nor could he find a way for her to suffer a “mischief.” His mother, like some of the other women in his life, could be so trying at times.He fought a suffering sigh.One other benefit of being a prince was that he got his own room. Normally the plebes had to share a room with a group of others. He knew some hated it. He enjoyed his room. Nor had he been inspected by the seniors. Only once had he been inspected by an instructor. That instructor had been counseled to never write him up again.He had five official siblings all told, although two were deceased. Only little Khalia, his ten-year-old sister was a full-blooded sibling. His eldest siblings had been by another mother. The same for the middle two siblings.Catherine was the ranking sibling. Miles was missing and presumed dead like Adam. Joseph was a Marine and third in line for the throne. That left him and Khalia.He knew that each of them had a mark on their back, a target from their other siblings as well as from the various families involved. Each wanted the throne and therefore wanted to prevent others from getting to it first.He had his doubts about little Khalia. She was too sweet and innocent. He doubted her time in her current boarding school would toughen her up. She'd already made it clear she wasn't interested in a military career. Their mother had agreed.His easy, almost pleased thoughts began to turn dark as he realized that he was still helpless. Sure he had some power over others and himself, but it was sharply limited. Catherine or Joseph could scheme against him with impunity. They could attack him, and he couldn't retaliate. The same for the ruling families not linked to his mother's.The only thing keeping them in line was his grandmother. The red queen they called her. No one stepped out of line with her watching their every move. And she was always watching. Her spies were everywhere.He'd heard about the savage losses against the Federation. They were losing the war no matter what the media was reporting. He could feel the unease in the air sometimes. He was pretty sure his father or grandmother was behind the replacement of the PM too. Up until the Duke and Duchess had died, the dynastic wars had been in something of a truce, or so he'd been told. Now, no one was sure about anything.There were a lot of calls to pull together in the face of a common enemy. But there were some who were starting to look at the war as an opportunity. The loud ones he knew II had already identified. They might make an example of one or more. He wasn't certain about it though. He'd come to realize there was a difference between someone talking a big game and actually pulling something off.It was the quiet ones that you had to watch out for. His mind turned to his little sister again.Unlikely Kevin, he reminded himself.No, he had three attack vectors to worry about. One, an attack from within, either from another student, an instructor, or his own security detachment. It could come in the form of a direct attack or poison. He'd already had a couple suspicions about accidents he'd endured in the past two years. Nothing serious enough to garner the interest of II, but enough to keep him on guard.The second vector was external, the thing he had no control over nor much warning if it did come. That could be in the form of a direct assault or a bomb. That was a concern and one reason he preferred to be behind bullet-proof glass and armored walls.In order to attack him, they'd have to get through the academy's formidable defenses. A concentrated attack had never happened, but it was still possible. More likely someone would try to attack him while he was en route to or from the academy.The third attack vector was both external and internal but more insidious. It could be an attack on his reputation and slights against him in order to draw him into saying something he shouldn't. He'd learned twice to his chagrin to keep a lid on his temper and mouth. Such attacks could undermine his future, cutting away at his foundation and making it harder for him to grasp the reins of power if he ever had the chance to access them. He hated the backbiting gossip.It could also mean a way for others to extort something out of him. He'd learned about political exchanges and trading favors when he'd been informed he'd been betrothed to Agnes after all.He didn't just have to worry about enemies and family but also mock attacks too. His grandmother was notorious for sending someone to test his defenses. Or even letting someone else get close enough to wake him up.And people think my father is paranoid, he thought with a mental shake of his head.Paranoid he might be but paranoids had real enemies. If they were smart and paid attention, they had a better chance of living longer.--///\\\--
I've been plugging away on MV4 for a while now, past the half way point when I got to the story Wayne challenged me to write. He and several other people have been on me about writing Shiver Me Timbers as well as more Tau sector stories.
I had 1 sentence. That was it. 1 seed of a sentence of a vague idea that grew to 10 pages, then to 22. It has now overtaken me. I've pretty much forgotten everything else in the heat of the moment to get the story out.
Yesterday was 1 such day. I was supposed to post this snippet. Instead I wrote 38 pages and reformatted the Tau story, now renamed Kai's Story into a novella in it's own right. I broke it down into chapters, and finished the first 7 chapters. Yesterday I had to force myself to stop at 61 pages in order to cook dinner and rest. (I was button punchy) I even wrote out the idea for the cover art.
I was shooting for 100 pages. I figured I'd be lucky if I got that far. But 30 pages were raw blocking.
This morning I just added 10 more pages in roughly an hour. Yipe? Most of it blocking too. 1 page of blocking usually translates into 1-3 pages of finished text.
So, yeah, I've got a bit more than I bargained for.
On to the snippet!
This one is from Boarding School
Kevin Ramichov looked at the window briefly. There was a slight breeze outside. He didn't care for it; he'd grown up indoors most of his life. But he did sometimes enjoy going outside. He ran a hand through his short raven colored bangs and thought about the platoon marching outside.Not in blustering weather like now though, he thought, noting the fat drops of rain. He'd much rather see it snow than rain, but they were a month or so out from that sort of storm. Most likely the exercise would be called off. The staff wanted their charges to learn to deal with adversity, but they knew not to push it and let one of their charges get sick or injured.As a plebe at the Imperial Star Academy, he'd normally be expected to shovel the walk, stand fire watch, and do other menial tasks. But he had something the others lacked, a very high rank. Rank hath it's privileges, he thought with a brief self-satisfying smirk.Technically, no one should know who he was. As the youngest prince, he should be enrolled under a false name and identity. But his mother had insisted that he have additional around the clock security protection. That had negated any attempt at keeping a low profile.Which was fine with him. Nathan behind him helped shield him from some of the hazing and excessive demands from the seniors at the academy. Just about everyone was quaking in their boots at the sight of him and for good reason. A single word from him could end their careers or their family's careers.It gave him a heady feeling to have such power at such a young age. It was his birthright. He intended to enjoy it to the fullest.His eyes had recently turned to girls as puberty had begun to set in. The school was coed. He had yet to get into the pants of one of the girls at the school despite the rules, but it was only a matter of time. Hell, if he wanted he could probably bed one of the female instructors if he wanted to do so.Of course his fiancé was at the school as well, which complicated things. Agnes Rico was a sniveling woman; he already detested her, mainly because she sought out his company so often. That usually drove the other girls away. She was also in her awkward period. She was a bit portly, had braces and wore glasses. She tended to snort and giggle a lot. She also had absolutely no sense of style. Sure, they all had to wear a uniform but at least some of the other girls had their uniforms tailored to accent their bodies. And they did nice things with their hair and makeup. Agnes didn't.He was hoping that his mother would break off the engagement. He didn't want to be saddled with the girl because it was a political necessity. His mother had explained it to him several times, but he still didn't like it.He'd recently heard that a lot of the navy families were on the decline. Each had taken hits due to the hated Federation. The Rico and Cartwrights had been hit. They hadn't yet been forced out of power in the Admiralty, but some were already whispering it was only a matter of time. One more major loss and either or both family would fall from grace.Of course, some said the same about his family when he wasn't around to hear or so they thought.He grimaced in annoyance. It seemed his family was tied to their success. Which meant Agnes would cling even further to him.There were of course ways to rid himself of her. His mother had made it clear he had to stick to protocol. He couldn't drive her away nor could he find a way for her to suffer a “mischief.” His mother, like some of the other women in his life, could be so trying at times.He fought a suffering sigh.One other benefit of being a prince was that he got his own room. Normally the plebes had to share a room with a group of others. He knew some hated it. He enjoyed his room. Nor had he been inspected by the seniors. Only once had he been inspected by an instructor. That instructor had been counseled to never write him up again.He had five official siblings all told, although two were deceased. Only little Khalia, his ten-year-old sister was a full-blooded sibling. His eldest siblings had been by another mother. The same for the middle two siblings.Catherine was the ranking sibling. Miles was missing and presumed dead like Adam. Joseph was a Marine and third in line for the throne. That left him and Khalia.He knew that each of them had a mark on their back, a target from their other siblings as well as from the various families involved. Each wanted the throne and therefore wanted to prevent others from getting to it first.He had his doubts about little Khalia. She was too sweet and innocent. He doubted her time in her current boarding school would toughen her up. She'd already made it clear she wasn't interested in a military career. Their mother had agreed.His easy, almost pleased thoughts began to turn dark as he realized that he was still helpless. Sure he had some power over others and himself, but it was sharply limited. Catherine or Joseph could scheme against him with impunity. They could attack him, and he couldn't retaliate. The same for the ruling families not linked to his mother's.The only thing keeping them in line was his grandmother. The red queen they called her. No one stepped out of line with her watching their every move. And she was always watching. Her spies were everywhere.He'd heard about the savage losses against the Federation. They were losing the war no matter what the media was reporting. He could feel the unease in the air sometimes. He was pretty sure his father or grandmother was behind the replacement of the PM too. Up until the Duke and Duchess had died, the dynastic wars had been in something of a truce, or so he'd been told. Now, no one was sure about anything.There were a lot of calls to pull together in the face of a common enemy. But there were some who were starting to look at the war as an opportunity. The loud ones he knew II had already identified. They might make an example of one or more. He wasn't certain about it though. He'd come to realize there was a difference between someone talking a big game and actually pulling something off.It was the quiet ones that you had to watch out for. His mind turned to his little sister again.Unlikely Kevin, he reminded himself.No, he had three attack vectors to worry about. One, an attack from within, either from another student, an instructor, or his own security detachment. It could come in the form of a direct attack or poison. He'd already had a couple suspicions about accidents he'd endured in the past two years. Nothing serious enough to garner the interest of II, but enough to keep him on guard.The second vector was external, the thing he had no control over nor much warning if it did come. That could be in the form of a direct assault or a bomb. That was a concern and one reason he preferred to be behind bullet-proof glass and armored walls.In order to attack him, they'd have to get through the academy's formidable defenses. A concentrated attack had never happened, but it was still possible. More likely someone would try to attack him while he was en route to or from the academy.The third attack vector was both external and internal but more insidious. It could be an attack on his reputation and slights against him in order to draw him into saying something he shouldn't. He'd learned twice to his chagrin to keep a lid on his temper and mouth. Such attacks could undermine his future, cutting away at his foundation and making it harder for him to grasp the reins of power if he ever had the chance to access them. He hated the backbiting gossip.It could also mean a way for others to extort something out of him. He'd learned about political exchanges and trading favors when he'd been informed he'd been betrothed to Agnes after all.He didn't just have to worry about enemies and family but also mock attacks too. His grandmother was notorious for sending someone to test his defenses. Or even letting someone else get close enough to wake him up.And people think my father is paranoid, he thought with a mental shake of his head.Paranoid he might be but paranoids had real enemies. If they were smart and paid attention, they had a better chance of living longer.--///\\\--
October 13, 2018
Folklore Snippet 2
Okay, still in Bounty Hunter:
Planetary Sheriff Bert Hayden had other things he should be doing, other things than listening to a custom agent worried about a bounty hunter.She had piqued his interest though. “A fox?”“Yes, sir.”“A fox,” the sheriff murmured as he checked the files the agent had sent him. He scanned them, but he recognized her right off. He'd seen her three times before, each time in company with a Neobloodhound. Apparently, she was on her own now though.“Miss Gomez. I know her. I've seen her work,” he grudgingly admitted. Just to be sure he tapped in an inquiry to the ansible. It only took a moment to get a response back. He remembered her though. It had been years since she'd been in his jurisdiction. Traveling bounty hunters were a rarity. Most who did something like that didn't do it as a straight-up profession.He'd come into law enforcement more or less to find a career. That had evolved a bit as he'd found he'd loved the job. It wasn't the sense of power as much as the sense of justice that went with it and the respect he got from most of the law abiding people.He was getting up there in years despite the newfangled medical tech Gaston had available. Bonny was perfectly happy with him as the planetary sheriff. It meant he had dozens of deputies, and he spent most of his time with his ass firmly planted in an office chair these days. He wasn't out getting shot at, which she feared.He'd muttered a few times about retiring, and she'd put that down. Her acidic response to him sitting around cluttering up her house was still amusing and treasured by him.“Sir?”“Sorry,” the sheriff replied. “What was the question?”“What do we do with her? She's got weapons, but really, she's a civilian.”“I know. And I know her profession has a bad rap. But she has a way of getting results.”“I see, sir. Well, if you say she's legit, sir, we'll let her go.”“She is. I remember her. I just checked the ansible. She's a bounty hunter all right,” the sheriff drawled. “I'm curious about what she can do here. We've exhausted all our leads. She's got a good reputation though.”“Yes, sir.”Look into why she was there and check the backlog of reports ton find out about the predator she was tracking from New Texas. “Well, well, well. Ain't that interustin’,” he drawled. He sat up abruptly as he started to make connections with cases he'd seen. All cold cases all scattered around the planet. But they shared a few similarities.“Ruffus, I think ya'll better come in here. We need to have another look-see over a few of the older cases …”“Ah, sir?” the custom agent asked.“Not you. Yeah, let her go. Tell her if she wants to see our want sheets and work here on my planet she needs to talk to me though.”“Yes, sir. Will do,” the agent said before he hung up.<(>^<(>“You are free to leave,” the agent said bluntly as he came into the room. She flicked her ears to him. Despite the sound proofing, she'd picked up some conversations outside of the small office slash interrogation room they'd left her to cool her heels in.“That was an hour. What gives?”“The planetary sheriff was in his office, surprisingly. I got him right off. He said to tell you that if you want to see our want sheets or work on the planet you need to check in with him first.”“Huh,” she said as she rose slowly. She'd sat for an hour in a rather uncomfortable human style chair. It had exactly zero padding and was made to make someone squirm and want to give up their secrets to just get away from it. It was positively evil. She loved it.“I'll let him know but I don't know if I'll be doin’ much,” she said, tipping her hat back.“Since you missed the bus to the capital, I got a list of motels for you as well,” he said, holding up a printed list.“Well, I thank you right kindly,” she said, taking the list from him. “I usually try to find a place out of the way,” she said.“Keep a low profile so you don't spook your perps. Got it,” he said with a nod.She turned a sharp look on him but he'd already turned and was halfway out the door. “You coming, ma'am?” he called back.“Just a minute,” she grumbled, gathering her bags up once more.<(>^<(>
Planetary Sheriff Bert Hayden had other things he should be doing, other things than listening to a custom agent worried about a bounty hunter.She had piqued his interest though. “A fox?”“Yes, sir.”“A fox,” the sheriff murmured as he checked the files the agent had sent him. He scanned them, but he recognized her right off. He'd seen her three times before, each time in company with a Neobloodhound. Apparently, she was on her own now though.“Miss Gomez. I know her. I've seen her work,” he grudgingly admitted. Just to be sure he tapped in an inquiry to the ansible. It only took a moment to get a response back. He remembered her though. It had been years since she'd been in his jurisdiction. Traveling bounty hunters were a rarity. Most who did something like that didn't do it as a straight-up profession.He'd come into law enforcement more or less to find a career. That had evolved a bit as he'd found he'd loved the job. It wasn't the sense of power as much as the sense of justice that went with it and the respect he got from most of the law abiding people.He was getting up there in years despite the newfangled medical tech Gaston had available. Bonny was perfectly happy with him as the planetary sheriff. It meant he had dozens of deputies, and he spent most of his time with his ass firmly planted in an office chair these days. He wasn't out getting shot at, which she feared.He'd muttered a few times about retiring, and she'd put that down. Her acidic response to him sitting around cluttering up her house was still amusing and treasured by him.“Sir?”“Sorry,” the sheriff replied. “What was the question?”“What do we do with her? She's got weapons, but really, she's a civilian.”“I know. And I know her profession has a bad rap. But she has a way of getting results.”“I see, sir. Well, if you say she's legit, sir, we'll let her go.”“She is. I remember her. I just checked the ansible. She's a bounty hunter all right,” the sheriff drawled. “I'm curious about what she can do here. We've exhausted all our leads. She's got a good reputation though.”“Yes, sir.”Look into why she was there and check the backlog of reports ton find out about the predator she was tracking from New Texas. “Well, well, well. Ain't that interustin’,” he drawled. He sat up abruptly as he started to make connections with cases he'd seen. All cold cases all scattered around the planet. But they shared a few similarities.“Ruffus, I think ya'll better come in here. We need to have another look-see over a few of the older cases …”“Ah, sir?” the custom agent asked.“Not you. Yeah, let her go. Tell her if she wants to see our want sheets and work here on my planet she needs to talk to me though.”“Yes, sir. Will do,” the agent said before he hung up.<(>^<(>“You are free to leave,” the agent said bluntly as he came into the room. She flicked her ears to him. Despite the sound proofing, she'd picked up some conversations outside of the small office slash interrogation room they'd left her to cool her heels in.“That was an hour. What gives?”“The planetary sheriff was in his office, surprisingly. I got him right off. He said to tell you that if you want to see our want sheets or work on the planet you need to check in with him first.”“Huh,” she said as she rose slowly. She'd sat for an hour in a rather uncomfortable human style chair. It had exactly zero padding and was made to make someone squirm and want to give up their secrets to just get away from it. It was positively evil. She loved it.“I'll let him know but I don't know if I'll be doin’ much,” she said, tipping her hat back.“Since you missed the bus to the capital, I got a list of motels for you as well,” he said, holding up a printed list.“Well, I thank you right kindly,” she said, taking the list from him. “I usually try to find a place out of the way,” she said.“Keep a low profile so you don't spook your perps. Got it,” he said with a nod.She turned a sharp look on him but he'd already turned and was halfway out the door. “You coming, ma'am?” he called back.“Just a minute,” she grumbled, gathering her bags up once more.<(>^<(>
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