Chris Hechtl's Blog, page 6

Uneasy Truce has published!

 

About:

 The war with the Tauren Confederation has come to ascreeching halt with the destruction of the Tauren fleets and the arrival ofthe Federation navy.  Many wars have beenwon or lost at the negotiating table however. So, as delicate negotiations goon, Admiral Shelby Logan and the Federation has time to regroup and assess newthreats.

  However there is abitter group within the Confederation who refused to concede the war and is outto reignite the flames of war once more…

Amazon: Uneasy Truce

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Shelby 8 Snippet 5

 

 

TauG9-77

 

GovernorHarden sat and listened to the other governors' talk. The conference wasrunning long, no surprise there. They generally ran long since everyone said hiand talked in the initial bit before they got to the outline. By the time theygot to the schedule, they were behind schedule and it went downhill from there.

Itusually meant yanking things from his later time slots to compensate. He flatout refused to sacrifice time with his constituents or his family, however, orhell, sleep.

“So,Governor Harden, you are still on track to take the Pele refugees?” Marcello,the State Department AI running the meeting asked formally.

“Ifthey show up,” the Neofox governor replied with an ear flick. “We still haven’tseen hide nor hair of them. Has there been any word from the Confees?”

“No,sir,” Marcello stated. “You have the facilities for them ready?”

“Asready as they can be. Lieutenant Kade shifted from defensive works to finishingthe islands. They were almost done when the Confees invaded. The engineers hadsome cleaning up to do but it is done. Everything is ready for the refugees tomove in.”

“Betteryou than me. I wouldn’t want the competition,” Ebenezer stated.

“Idoubt they will be much competition,” The fox replied. He had done thepolitical calculations. Sure, the Pele people had their own leaders but theywould be isolated on the islands. He might lose in that state but he wasconfident the rest of the population would swamp their numbers without issue.

“Theywere well cared for by the navy. I hope they are good when they get here.Whenever that is,” the fox growled. “Marcello, look into it, will you?”

“Weare trying. The Confees are still trying to figure their political situationout.”

“Ah.”

“Didn’tyou folks order the release of EPOWs?” Governor Gyro, the leader of RumblingMountains asked.

“Weissued a swap as a proof of faith. Five hundred enlisted. Half are able-bodied;some were critically injured and recovered. All have been shipped to StunningSunsets to get to the Confederation,” Marcello supplied.

“Whynot through my neck of the woods?” Ebenezer asked.

“Wedrew them from Sparkling Seas so they would not have to be shipped acrossFederation space and then back again,” Marcello supplied.

“Imeant straight to that Confee base that has the refugees from Pele. Shame thebastards into giving our people up.”

“I’dhardly say five hundred of their enlisted for fifty-five thousand refugees instasis is a fair trade,” Governor Rufus Salazar, a big black and brown mastiffgovernor of Tau-15A922 stated.

“True,”Governor Harden stated along with other governors. He checked the clock. Thegood thing about the meeting was that it was virtual through the ansible. Hecould do it in his boxers if he wished. It was also time limited. CommanderEnki had blocked out two four-hour segments each day for the five-dayconference.

Theywere nearly done with the first block of time for the day.

“Whatdo we do about the refugees coming from the Confees? We know that they aregoing to swamp us with them eventually,” Ebenezer stated. The elderly governordid not look pleased.

Thenagain, he always had a grimace on his face the fox thought. It was his defaultsetting.

“Ican take a couple thousand,” he offered.

“What?More? Are you glutting for punishment?” Governor Salazar asked.

“Hardly.He’s a fox after all. A sly fox. His world gets all sorts of tax rebates andhelp for the refugees. That’s why he took on the Pele refugees,” Ebenezersupplied.

Thatstarted a chatter from the other governors. Commander Enki dutifully reportedwhat each said but stalled some of the comments since they were stepping oneach other.

GovernorHarden sat back and took a sip of his juice and let them chatter. He didn’tcare. The optics might be a little cynical but Ebenezer was correct in someways. Well, most ways, he admitted in the privacy of his own mind. Hehad done the political calculus and it had been the impetus to get his peopleto accept the refugees. Not only had he gotten so much out of it, but it madehim look good while the others looked stingy.

“Whatabout that world that got cleaned out by the pirate plagues? Can’t theyresettle there?” a governor asked.

“Therewill be a lot of places for the refugees to go. In fact, we are to discuss suchoptions on day three,” Marcello said. “If we can get back to the schedule …”

>>><><<< 

FirstLieutenant Berl Kade felt relief that they were finally wrapping things up. Allof the defensive works had been wound down. The hidden refugee centers had beenevacuated and sealed for future use. Some of the people had not been happy toreturn to their former homes. Others had been ecstatic, right up until they hadfound out that their homes had been destroyed in the fighting.

Hisunit had helped along with the Army Corps of Engineers to get that sorted out.Their last task had been to make sure the Pele islands were ready for therefugees. They were, and when the natives had found out that those homes weresitting vacant, many had demanded that they get them instead.

GovernorHarden had stepped on that firmly. His administration had made it clear thatthe islands were located in the tropics away from any other cities orlocations. The natives had given the idea up, although not with the typicalgriping at wasting their precious tax dollars.

Heshook his head. He was getting cynical as of late. He shouldn’t be; they’d wonafter all. They had done the impossible and torn the invading Confees apartwhile also securing the safety of as many natives as possible.

I’vebeen seeing too much backbiting, he thought in annoyance.

Hehad found out the day before that he was the highest ranking Spacebee in thesector. He had been bewildered by that news. BuShips and Spacebee command hadyet to get back to him on why that was. He hoped to get an answer before heshipped out in a few weeks.

 Accordingto his last set of orders, he was supposed to be shipped back to the capital.But he had received an email asking him if he and his unit were willing to hooksoutheast and visit some worlds along the route home to help with therebuilding.

Hehad yet to put it to his team. He wasn’t sure how receptive they would be tothe idea.

>>><><<< 

Shelby 8 Snippet 4

 

 

New Tau Metropolis

 

FredMuggs continued to work to coordinate the upcoming peace talks. It was stilltricky; they had to send signals to the nearest ansible and then use their hackinto the Confed network. He was working with Dela and some of the negotiatorsthat remained in the capital to get a general outline going.

ONIwasn’t happy about the exposure so the data bandwidth was restricted.Apparently ONI didn’t want the Confeds to know where the Fed ansible was. Itdelayed the talks. With the chaos in the Confederation, that might beconsidered a good thing at the moment, however.

Thenavy was moving ansibles in to make the communications easier. He was relievedby that. At the moment, they had too much of a break between conversations. Abasic outline of the peace treaty had been sent but there were errors incommunication.

Itwas rather frustrating, especially since the outline and details kept changingon his side. It seemed the Federation Congress didn’t know what it wanted to doeither. The State Department had several outlines to work from, one dictated byAdmiral Irons which was the bare minimum terms they were willing to accept.

He’dpointed out that they had problems communicating that to the other side.Unfortunately, that had opened up a can of worms for him. More teams had beensent courtesy of the gate and fast couriers to the capital. Additionalpersonnel were in the pipeline as well. Secretary Moira Sema herself was tocome to sign the accords once they were hammered out and voted on.

Theyhad already agreed for her and a delegation to travel into Confederation spaceto do so in a big publicity thing. He had been told he would be allowed to goas well.

Beforethe bigwigs could come they had to get the document pounded out, however. Theyalso needed to do their homework and prep work. That meant a stand down of allmilitary forces and an exchange of prisoners. Also clearance for the attorneygeneral’s agents and prosecutors to investigate war crimes. Among many otherthings, he thought with a rueful slight shake of his head.

Partiesof personnel and ships would have to go in to oversee the Confederation standdown and report back. That was already in the works. Reparations were an issuehe was still working on. The Confederation wanted their ships back too. The navyrefused; they had those ships and would not give them back until after thepeace treaty was signed, sealed, and delivered.

Hedidn’t blame them, not one iota. As much as he wanted to trust some of theConfederation, you didn’t hand over warships to an enemy who had been shootingat you not so long ago. Especially not when those same ships had valuableintelligence in their computers that could potentially be used against hispeople.

Hehad been sent additional negotiation teams. Instead of using them with theConfederation, he’d dispatched a few of them to worlds like Stunning Sunsets,TauG9-77, and Sparkling Seas to negotiate for the Tauren prisoners there. Theywere to oversee the process. At the moment, the navy was only willing to do a one-for-onetrade and only release nonthreatening Taurens who had no command experience orhad not been accused of war crimes.

Hegrimaced at that. War crimes were one of many thorny issues he had to dealwith. Still on the subject of reparations, he’d asked for the simple return ofthe Pele refugees. That had apparently opened a can of worms that had yet to beunraveled.

Justbefore the war the Federation had agreed to evacuate the survivors of Pele, avolcanic world that was slowly being consumed by its own overactive volcanism.The population had been reduced to fifty-five thousand souls. It had taken timefor his staff to find a world willing to accept them. They’d found that worldin TauG9-77. Three ships had been dispatched to pick up the survivors and placethem into stasis. They had meager belongings but had been promised credits torestart their lives on a series of islands on TauG9-77.

TauG9-77in turn would get additional tax credits for taking in the refugees and had negotiatedfor a group of engineering teams. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Spacebeeshad sent units to the world to help them rebuild and upgrade to a higherdesired status.

Justas the refugee ships had arrived the Taurens had crossed the border and invaded.They had captured the ships and invaded the planet. They’d bit off more thanthey could chew with the invasion, however. Despite their low numbers, theengineers and military units had fought a brilliant guerillas campaign that hadbrutally torn to shreds some of the Taurens’ best army units.

Infact, he had to wonder if that defensive action had been one reason that theTaurens had stalled on their offense for so long. It probably hurt them morethan they were willing to admit. They’d stuck their massive hands into whatthey’d expected to be a soft, easily conquerable world and instead stuck thathand into a meat grinder.

Hesniffed at himself.

Somewherealong the way the three captured ships had been sent with their contents ofrefugees to Confederation space. There things got a bit murky.

Hehad reports from ONI that the three ships had been spotted in use by theConfederation. The crew and passengers were MIA, however. He worried that theywere dead. If they were, there would be hell to pay.

Hopefullynot. Hopefully, someone had been wise enough to stick those poor benightedsouls in some warehouse in their pods until their sticky situation could beresolved. Hopefully, he thought with a shake of his head. But until theyfigured it out, it was one thing among many he needed to work out.

Itwas a saying in his department that sometimes the simplest things were the mostcomplex to work out. Negotiations took time, and they took a lot of patienceand trust.

Still,it would be nice to get those people home. They’d suffered enough and gettingthem released would be another step in the right direction to finally resolvingthe conflict and putting the war behind them.

Onthe other side of things, they had the POWS as well as control of Federationspace to deal with. Also, worlds like Stunning Sunsets that had not formallyjoined the Federation and then independent worlds like Tau-FRX76 and Tau-2X78which had been in early talks to join the Federation but those talks hadstalled when the Taurens had triggered their fifth column of activists to takecontrol.

Heshook his head and ran a hand through the fur on the top of his head. Stillthere, he thought moodily. The thought of the fifth column people had broughtup an issue with the Confederation, what to do with those spies. ONI and theother agencies had yet to identify them all, let alone round them up.

Someonein Confederation space wanted them as leverage against the POWs and their owncitizens who wanted out of Confed space. That was another thorny issue he hadyet to figure out.

Oneamong many, he thought with a resigned shake of his head. But, the old maximwas still true to this day, he thought. “If we are talking, we’re not shootingat each other. And I’ll take that any day,” he murmured to himself.

“Sir,don’t forget the mixer tonight. It is in an hour,” his chief of staff said in atext.

Hegrunted and then shook himself before rising out of his chair. He typed out aresponse that he was going to go change and collect his wife and then he’d showup.

“Knowingher we’ll be fashionably late as usual,” he said.

“Well,I’m not holding dinner. It’s New Texas beef. I’m looking forward to it,” camethe response.

Fredchuckled and felt his mouth water a little in response. The only thing thatwould get him really going was bush baby. For some reason, his kind still had athing for it even all these centuries away from their ancient ancestors.

>>><><<< 

Phoebe smiled as she clung to herson’s arm. Ayumu wasn’t going to be with her much longer. His leave was nearlyup and he was being transferred to his next assignment. He hadn’t talked aboutit much though, probably not to distress her.

She smiled to him. He lookeddashing in his crisp naval uniform. So formal, so handsome. She had hopes thathe’d find someone to pique his interest at the dinner parties. So far no luckon that score. Pity.

>>><><<< 

Ayumu fought to tug a finger inhis collar. His mother might like him dressed up to the nines in his formaluniform but he hated the damn thing. He had worn the thing more in the pastmonth than he had in his time at the academy. He was starting to regret cominghome for leave.

He nodded politely to CommanderDolly Merhall. The Neocollie was one of several officers that had been asked toattend the mixer. She looked more comfortable than he was, but then again shewas a female and also older. As a senior officer, she probably had moreexperience with such things.

He on the other hand was a juniorofficer who was more likely to be told to keep his trap shut and pass the canapésover being included in the conversations.

He knew his mother meant well,but honestly, he was pretty sure they were wasting their time. But he did itfor her since she wanted to preen and show him off.

Not much longer though, hethought as he checked his internal clock. Another two hours and he could begoff and slip away to get out of the monkey suit and play Shards, a new shooterhe’d gotten into lately.

Hell, he might even do it in hisbuck ass fur just to unwind. A bottle of suds, some fun … his mouth started towater in anticipation.

>>><><<< 

Shelby 8 Snippet 3

 Sitrep:

So, I finished the first act of Jethro 9 and sent it off. I'm almost done the second act so truckin' right along there!

In other news, Rea sent Shelby 8 back to me. I sent it off to Goodlifeguide so the clock is ticking down to when it gets published!

 And on to the next snippet:

 

 

Minox IV, Confederation Capital

 

Thenew government was struggling with getting approval of their replacementappointees let alone clean house in the army and law enforcement. The AttorneyGeneral’s Office was swamped. Everyone was scrambling. The ruling war party wasin chaos. Nearly half of their old members had stated they were retiring or hadimmediately retired. A few had left the star system. Several had died fromcoronary events or strokes. They were rudderless and gave off mixed signals ontheir intentions.

Congressbarely had a quorum half of the time. The markets had been frozen to keep chaosand panic down. Each time they were released the slide began.

FormerSenator Scar Chin was president. Speaker of the House Kas was now acting vicepresident. There was some chatter that his elevation was not legal, but theherd needed a leader so many in both parties supported the duo initially. WhenPresident Scar Chin announced that there would be a full investigation and thatthe guilty would be charged and held accountable, it eroded some of his fragilebase on both sides. The old war party wanted to be covered.

Theybleated that they hadn’t done anything wrong or that it had been Ramhorn andthe late senators who had supported him. Many hit on the party line of doingthe right thing for the wrong reasons.

Someof the proposed terms from the Federation were leaked. The population approvedof keeping their sovereignty in a poll as well as restoring the rights ofnonTaurens. They also supported relocating them to the Federation but balked atpaying reparations.

Theydid want to hold those who had cause the mess and who had committed war crimesaccountable. That sent all parties into a frenzy of finger pointing andhysterics to the point that the government ground to a crawl and little moregot done.

>>><><<< 

Former Admiral Togo and Gambitwere together when the news that General Dun had been arrested. They watched asthe general was escorted out of a home and to a vehicle and driven away. “Perpwalk,” Togo muttered. “What an indignity.”

“I know.”

“I’m glad we didn’t have a handin war crimes,” Togo muttered.

“I hope not,” Gambit replied.Togo looked at him sharply. “I know, we didn’t but some of the field commandersmight have gotten … a bit … risqué in their orders.”

“That is on them.”

“It depends on how the AGinterprets the ROE we cut for them,” Gambit warned.

Admiral Togo winced and flappedhis ears. After a moment, he grunted.

“Who is in charge? Any clue?”

“At the moment? No idea. We’reout, that is all I know,” Togo said. His wife had left him. The same forGambit. They had been forced out of base housing. Their spouses were suing them,and their money had been locked up by the courts. With the financial marketsfrozen, they couldn’t get at investments. They had come together to stay at acabin that many flag officers used as a vacation retreat.

Flashing lights appeared outside.Gambit and then Togo looked up and out of the window to see a herd of Taurenagents pulling up.

“Ah hell and Murphy,” Togomuttered as his shoulders hunched.

“He does love his little tricks,”Gambit muttered.

>>><><<< 

Blacksight shook his head as hesaw arrest after arrest on the news. He was out of it; he had fallen throughthe cracks and disappeared. He’d even gone so far as to fake his death themoment President Ramhorn’s government resigned.

He didn’t know if it wouldprotect him but he hoped so. It was now his only recourse, to fade intoobscurity and hope he died of old age before someone tripped over him.

>>><><<< 

Admiral Fiddlybit was reelingover the losses in ships and lives, not to mention his world view. He wasapolitical so he should be okay. Someof the flag officers, however, were on extended leave. It left dangerous gapingholes in their chain of command.

At the moment, he was acting headof BuShips. Admiral Byx was in temporary command as acting CNO per the acting president.Admiral Silvertip had been in talks to return to the office but he was taintedby past actions involving the mistreatment of non-Tauren species so that wasdelayed or off.

It was a mess. He couldn’t blamesome bulls for laying low. But someone had to keep things running and thelights on in their absence.

For the moment, they were tryingto keep things running until a bull was found who had not been tainted by thewar or by prior bad acts was found. What was the old saying? For want of anhonest bull?

>>><><<< 

Shelby 8 Snippet 2

 

Chapter1

 

New Tau Metropolis

 

AdmiralShelby Logan sat curled up in her favorite reading spot reading an articleabout Admiral Irons’ day. She was amused by it. The single article had beenturned into a series over the course of a year. She had just found it anddecided to scan it. She wasn’t certain what the writer’s original intent hadbeen. Perhaps to knock Irons for being the king? If it was, the impact had beendifferent. The story had taken on a grudging tone over time.

Thewriter had timed the admiral’s schedule down to the half second in intimatedetail. It was probably enough to give any paranoid security type fits andnightmares since it was a clear window into the admiral’s life and schedule.The first article had been shadowing the admiral in one of his ‘in house’ dayswhere he spent the entire 24 hour period in the White Station.

So,no real show of transportation or his security out of White Station. No doubtit had been carefully scripted by the staff for the benefit of the reporter’sviewpoint. She nodded slightly to herself as she considered that idea. It madea certain sort of sense.

Skepticswho had read the initial article and the follow up and seen the video time stampshad scoffed and claimed it had been fabricated as a fluff piece to make theadmiral seem like a hero. Others had commented that it did the opposite; theadmiral was more machine than man. In a way it was true, the admiral was acyborg after all. He was the most advanced cyborg in existence. Who could sleepjust 3 hours a day and function at that high a level for the rest of the timeperiod? It just didn’t seem possible, and yet he made it look easy, jugglingmultiple tasks at the same time without being frazzled.

Otherpeople wondered about how anyone could function in such a high stress job. Thatstarted a debate about ending the presidency and moving to a more committeestyle of government.

Shecould just imagine that. Government ala rub-Goldberg? Committees rarely gotanything done. They were there to shift the blame to a collective over anindividual. She could not imagine one handling a crisis at all well.

Ofcourse that might be her near lifetime of military training and experiencesshowing, she thought with puckered lips as she scrolled onward.

Thepiece had eventually been followed up by six others, each a slice in the lifeof the President. Several showcased that power was not for the faint of heart.Only a fool wanted the job was the take away from some of them, especially thedays where admiral Irons consoled the families of victims or fallen militarypersonnel.

Therewere a few pieces that were amusing takeaways for her. Like when he playedhookey in the station, sneaking down to the maintenance area in order to helpout. Or the one day where they looked at his AI. She nodded slightly as shescanned that one.

Shewas familiar with Admiral Irons AI. He had originally had 3, Proteus, Defender,and Sprite. Proteus was a dumb AI the admiral had crafted himself as a designaide for engineers. The original had been debugged by Sprite and a cyber teamand was in widespread use by engineers across the navy. Proteus was supposed torun the admiral’s nanites and help him with repairs and design work. With theadmiral’s butt practically welded to a chair in the president’s office, the AIwas severely underutilized. Admiral Irons had apparently convinced the AI togrow a little. For the past few decades Proteus moonlighted as an instructor atthe academy.

Infact one of the reasons the admiral stayed in his office so much was the WIFIor the ability to jack in to allow his AI to have unfettered bandwidth to goabout their duties. She nodded to herself. She sometimes felt a little guiltythat she didn’t jack in as often as she probably should.

Defenderhad been a dumb AI that she had fortunately rarely experienced. He had been theadmiral’s watchdog, protecting the admiral and the Federation from all sorts ofthreats. It had also protected the navy from the admiral should he go rogue.The AI had deleted itself after being severely damaged in a fight with a rogueAI on Antigua Prime.

Spritewas the single smart AI of the original Trinity package. She had been thekeystone to the others. She had evolved to the point of needing to extractherself from the admiral’s implants in order to continue her evolution. She wascurrently a serving admiral.

Shehad extracted herself shortly after Defender’s death. But she had used some ofher core and some legacy files from Defender to forge a replacement, Protector.Protector acted as the admiral’s adjunct and flag lieutenant. They had spent somuch time together now they worked seamlessly.

Sheflicked her fingers down to another scene, another of her favorites. Theadmiral had played hookey again, this time taking on a surprise guest lecturerole at the academy. Apparently he did it monthly when he could steal the time.Sometimes it was just for a few minutes, other times it was an entire hour. Shecould imagine the impact he had on the academy students to have a lofty admiralpop in from time to time.

Herlips curved slightly in a smile. Both of those hookey stories gave her ideas.She wanted to try them. She missed getting her hands dirty. She also missedteaching, though she’d never really been a natural at it. Not even when she’dbeen her dad’s assistant on Anvil station back in Pyrax.

Therehad been mentions of two other incidents when the admiral went off script. Shehad to wonder if someone had been trying to make the admiral look like a rogueor humanize him. She wasn’t sure. The first had been when the admiral hadcaught a ride into the shipyard and had helped out with several ships underconstruction. She couldn’t fault him for that. He’d done something constructiveeven if he’d put himself in a ‘risky situation’. She didn’t agree with thereporter’s sentiment.

Thesecond had been when the admiral had popped into a Marine work out session andtaught an hour long class in self-defense. No doubt the admiral had been thereto blow off some steam and get some hands on again, though the reporter hadmade it out like he had been showing off or showing the Marines up.

Sheshook her head. She sometimes wished the reporters would stick to the facts.She understood the need for color to put things into context, but she didn’tcare for the spin.

Hertake away from it was that the admiral carved time away for himself. Probablyto remain sane more than anything else. She nodded slightly to herself. Yeah,she needed to do that more for herself.

Shelooked up and then over to the window she was sitting near. Beyond the glassships moved in deep space. They were distant dots, but she could see theblinking lights.

>>><><<< 

Shelby 8 Snippet 1

 

Prologue

 

TauR14G6-15 Blue Waters andGentle Mist

 

AdmiralLobo stared at the document and then wordlessly handed it to his groundcommander counterpart. He had just been promoted and the elation of gettinganother star had died with the crushing responsibility of leading a naval baseon the front lines.

GeneralSedu took the tablet, scanned it, and then sat down heavily at the table. Theother officers looked at him in surprise as he hung his head. “It is over. Welost,” the general said with a resigned shake of his head.

Hewasn’t supposed to be there. He had actually been slated to return to thecapital to face judgment for losing his division on 77. Instead a LieutenantSedu had taken his place at the last minute. No one knew he was in the starsystem other than his closest friends.

“Over?”one of the junior officers demanded. The Taurens in the room had a mixture ofexpressions. There was relief, trepidation, and consternation. After a momentthe fear began to grow in some eyes.

“Over,”Admiral Lobo said as he tucked his hands behind his back and stared out thewindow to the ships and planet beyond.

“Over,”General Sedu said heavily as he flicked one meaty finger across the tablet andsent the contents to the main screen in the room and then to each of theirpersonal devices.

TheTauren officers and few civilians in the room stared at the report of thedestruction of their fleet and word of the capitulation of their government.The old administration had fallen and the new one was moving forward tosurrender.

Tosay that they were shocked and bewildered was putting it mildly.

“Why?”a fortress commander demanded.

“Howcould this have happened?” another officer demanded.

“AdmiralEru had the best ships and crew!” another officer bleated.

“Howcould they beat us!” another said shaking his head in denial. “It isn’tpossible! It has to be a fake! It has to be a hoax, it just has to be!”

“Ithas happened. They had better ships, they used AI, it doesn’t matter,” AdmiralLobo said heavily. “What is done is done. What we have to concern ourselveswith is where we go from here.”

Theroom was aghast at the idea of having lost the war. It hadn’t seemed possibleuntil that moment. No matter what setback they’d faced it had been distant andit had only fueled their desire for revenge and to see the war through to theend.

AdmiralLobo realized that they had gone into the war with the wrong intentions andwithout a clear end game. The Federation had been weak but had not been crushedunder their hooves. The strategy to drive them out of the sector and then suefor peace or beat down any attempts at retaliation had been shattered.

Hestill had trouble with the entire war. They’d had accurate intelligence in theform of their spies embedded in the Federation controlled star systems. Thosespies had reported via hidden ansible platforms.

Theyhad built a massive war machine to beat the Federation or any threat theyfaced. Instead fleet after fleet had been ground down and torn to shreds.

“So,that is it?” Hard Toss, governor of the star system asked.

“Notquite. It will take time. But the orders are to stand down and to not harmaliens. We are to provide them food and medical care,” General Sedu said with agrunt. “We are to preserve all records and treat them as citizens,” he said.

Hedidn’t look happy at that revelation.

“So,what now? We cater to them? Give them back their stuff?” Colonel Shrapnelpractically spat in anger. A lifetime of hunting, rounding up, and eventuallykilling aliens for one reason or another was not easily overcome with a simpleand yet oh so life changing paragraph.

Hislong face and muzzle was pockmarked by scars from an IED that had exploded andtaken out a part of his unit. He had a burning desire to kill any non Taurens.

“Theycan’t get back what they lost. Their lives maybe. Their families? No. Their…ability to have children? Maybe. Their belongings and money? Sure. It will costus a lot…” another officer said with a shake of his head.

“No!Just kill them and be done with it!” a junior officer said. “Just bury them andbe done with it! That way we won’t have to pay reparations!”

Therewas a babble of voices in denial over that idea.

“Itcould work. We can destroy the evidence. They will have no proof that thosepeople even existed if we do our jobs right,” Colonel Shrapnel suggested as helooked to the general for support.

AdmiralLobo also shifted his massive head to the General.

“Notgoing to happen,” the general said tiredly.

“Everythingwe’ve believed in, Tauren space for Taurens! It all just goes away?” CommanderBlack Tip demanded. The Commander was an outspoken officer. He had black tippedears which had earned him his name.

“Yes.”

“Why?Because we lost a few battles?” Colonel Shrapnel asked in disgust.

“Becausewe got hammered in almost every battle,” Admiral Lobo replied tiredly. AdmiralEru’s loss was just the latest one. They had lost their 3 best fleets to theFederation. They’d had an overwhelming weight of metal but had been torn toshreds by the Federation carriers.

They’dhad the same strength on the ground. The army had gone into battle on 77 andother worlds expecting to be greeted as heroes. Instead they’d been torn toshreds. It was hard to believe that Federation supporting units had destroyedthe better part of two Tauren Divisions.

“Howis that possible?”

“They…it doesn’t matter.” He flapped his ears and straightened his shoulders as heforced himself to see what others were struggling to grasp. “We lost, they won.Our best ships are broken wreckage. There is an open path to our borders.”

Thatwas a little bit of hyperbole and they all knew it. He still had the orbitalfortresses and a small task force to defend the star system. Admiral White Facehad a similar force nearby, and other flag officers controlled similar forcesaround the Confederation.

Butafter what happened to Admiral Eru and the raid by that damn Federationcruiser, there was a great deal of doubt about how effective fixed defensescould be against an invading fleet.

“So?We’ve got defenses right?”

“Andthey have weapons that can destroy star systems,” Admiral Lobo said flatly.

Theother Taurens flinched. More than one junior officer shivered in dread.

“Itwouldn’t come to that. How could they have nova weapons?” the colonel askedquietly.

“Wehave forgotten so much. Rewritten history to suit our own twisted purposes,”General Sedu said as he leaned back into his chair. “Their President, thisIrons is the Irons. Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons, the creatorof the gate and the nova bomb. So, of course they have it.”

AdmiralIrons had threatened to use the nova bombs if the war continued to escalate togenocidal proportions. Intelligence had reported persistent rumors that he hadused a bomb on Horath.

“Rumorhas it they did it to the pirate home world. Horath,” a major said quietly. Theflag officers glanced his way and then away.

“So?They still have to… have to come to us right? We’ll fight right?” the commanderasked desperately. “They don’t have many ships...”

“Yesthey do for it is worse than you know. The reason for the big push? We receivedintelligence that they were building a Stargate on the other side of theirsector capital,” he explained. The other bulls stared at him. Some had knownthat, others had been too busy with their day to day jobs to have heard the scuttlebuttapparently. “Well, the Federation has an open gate now. They are sending fleetsthrough from Rho sector. Those fleets smashed Admiral Eru’s fleet. We can’tstop them,” Admiral Lobo said heavily as he shook his head in resignation.

“So,that’s it? We give up?”

“Lookat the facts. Fact, they can send in as many ships as they want. Fact, theydisrupted our communications. We’re still getting a handle on it. We still donot have an ansible in every star system. The ones they do are supposed to beprotected but apparently the Federation tapped into it again. They cantherefore take it all down again if they wish. Fact, they have taken our bestships and commanders and blown them into tiny bits, or forced them to surrenderafter grievous losses.”

Hepaused to stare out the window glumly. “Fact, our leadership has fallen andresigned. Fact, our morale is in the crapper. No one wants this war anymore,”he said heavily.

“So…that’s it,” the general said dully. “We’re done. Centuries ofself-determination is about to go away. We’ll be satraps to the Federation… orworse.”

“Andwhat of the dream?”

“Whatdream?” someone asked.

“Kai’sdream! A united Tauren Confederation!”

“Itwould have been united had our ancestors left things alone. If we hadn’t killedso many of our own people,” Governor Hard Toss said. “Now we are paying forthat hubris,” he said with a shake of his head.

“No,that comes later,” the general said with a resigned shake of his massive head.

“Whatdo you mean?” the governor asked.

“Imean the Federation knows about the round ups, sterilizations, andextermination program. Genocide they are calling it. War crimes and so on.” Thegeneral looked bleak. “We are screwed. They are beyond angry and want heads.That is why we have orders to preserve records.”

Theadmiral turned to him. “They intend to hold you responsible?”

Thegroup of Taurens looked at each other in alarm. Almost all of them had somehand in the handling of non Taurens or knew someone who did.

“Someonehas to catch it in the neck,” the general said sourly. He shrugged helplessly.“They need a scapegoat.”

“Wewere just following orders! They set the policy! If we didn’t do it,they’d punish us and someone else would do it,” the commander bleated.

“Doyou think that matters?” the general snarled. “The politicians will fall overthemselves to keep their necks. The Federation needs the Confederationgovernment to continue to exist to maintain order as they move in and takeover. So, they’ll cut golden parachutes for them. They’ll get off.” He shookhis head and took a sip from his mug and then set it down heavily.

“And?”the commander prompted.

“Andwhat? They still need a scapegoat. The people need someone to blame. So, we’rethe ones who did the deed and therefore…”

“Thereforewe will be punished,” Colonel Shrapnel said. “They’ll make examples of us,” hesaid. “I studied Terran history. They did this many times. Nuremburg is onesuch incident. After their second world war the victors put the losers ontrial. War crimes.”

“Well,they did run extermination camps like we did,” Major Blood Eye admitted. Themajor had one blood red eye and scars on that side of his face courtesy of anangry cat that he had impaled and then butchered as a lieutenant on his firstassignment. He had been fooled into thinking the cat had been impassive tobeing rounded up and he’d even been sympathetic to the pathetic aliens.

Thatsympathy had died with a part of the vision in his left eye.

“Butthey were following orders,” the commander said.

AdmiralLobo listened carefully. As a member of the navy he was mostly insulated fromthe war crimes, or so he thought.

“Theyshould have known better. Should have said no. That is what was argued by thedefense. Most were held accountable and punished by death or lifeimprisonment.”

Thecommander stared at him. “That’s sick. For following orders? We went where theherd told us to go! Where others went before us!”

“Itis what will happen. Mark my words,” the colonel said dully. “We are deadbulls. It just hasn’t happened yet. They will write new text books and make ushated demons. People will spit on our graves. Our herds will dishonor us.”

“No!We can’t let it happen!” There was intense vengeance but also a note ofdesperation in that statement. Some of it was self-serving, but there was anundertone of pleading in it that hit the flag officers hard.

Loyaltyas they had been taught should go both ways. But they knew it was a lie. Theyall knew it was a lie, but no one was willing to admit it.

Untilnow.

“Can’twe?”

“Wehold the guns! The ships! We have the power! They can pass any law that theylike. But we can stop them!”

“Weswore an oath to follow orders!”

“Toa faithless government with no loyalty or honor! One that will throw us to theFederation to save their own worthless necks! Honor, loyalty, duty, sacrifice,it is expected of us, but we expect to be covered in return!” The commanderpaced, pounding a meaty fist into his open hand. “It goes both ways!” In hisanger he made motions and gyrations. “To… too...”

Theadmiral felt a spark within him reignite. The commander was right. Besides, hedidn’t like the idea of being written out of history. He had spent too long inuniform doing what he’d thought was right. Serving and protecting his people.

Peoplelike the commander and others who would be destroyed right along with him. Theywould suffer for doing as they were told. That wasn’t right.

“Ifenough of us band together, they can’t kill us. I’d rather go down fightingthan walk tamely into the court room and then be sent to prison or killed,”Colonel Shrapnel said with a growl. “To be paraded before the cameras? Pointedat, told that we are the evil? Reviled for doing what we were supposed to do?The rot? To just let them get away with it?”

“Ifthey want to hold us accountable we will hold them accountable,” thecommander said with a nod.

“Enough.You speak of treason,” the general said. “I want no part of that,” he growled,his brown eyes flaring in anger.

“Why?Why is it treason if they are the first to betray us?” the commander demanded.“This… it is self-defense!” he shot a look of raw appeal to the admiral.

Theadmiral grunted. “I won’t hold to killing our fellow Taurens. To kill our ownpeople in uniform,” he said slowly.

Thecommander’s shoulders slumped.

“But…”He left that word hanging as he considered his options.

“But?”the colonel asked as he exchanged looks with the other officers. Ears perkedup.

“ButI will not accept responsibility for following orders. I will not walk tamelyinto a kangaroo court and be their scapegoat,” the admiral said as he squaredhis shoulders.

“Iwill not have my family, my herd,suffer for them. Not now, not ever,” the admiral vowed.

GeneralSedu stared at him. After a moment he grunted. He had several grand childrenand didn’t like the idea of their being cast out by society for something hedid either.

“So,what do we do?” the commander asked.

“Wehave a choice,” the admiral said as he turned to face them. “We can break away,reforge the Confederation here, or leave.”

“Leave?Leave? Where would we go?”

“Anywherebut here. If we try to reforge a new government, foment a civil war theFederation will eventually come down on us too,” the general said slowly. “Butif we run… they’ll say we are guilty. It will be evidence of our guilt,” hewarned.

“Weall know that we’ve been tried and convicted already. They just haven’t dressedit up in pretty language. They are already feeding the media images of uskilling civilian aliens,” the colonel spat.

“Scum,”the major growled.

“Ifwe run we’ll just die tired,” the commander said with a shake of his head.“They’ll eventually run us down. We will not know where to go, will not haveany support.”

“Spaceis vast. There are a lot of star systems out there,” Admiral Lobo said quietly.“I don’t intend to turn pirate but it is an option. Or, we can take everything.Anyone who wants to come and just leave. A mass exodus. Friends, family, anyoneand everyone who share our views and desire to be free. And then go.”

“Where?”the general demanded. “There is no place to go!”

“Wego north. Through Upsilon, or into deep space. We look into the oldnavigational charts and find where they won’t look. We send out our own scoutsand when we find a home, we make it our own.”

“Andthen? When they come for us? You know they won’t just let us run.”

“Letthem try,” the admiral growled. “I may not like killing our own, but I willkill to protect our people and our way of life. And I don’t mind destroyingFederation ships.”

Theother officers nodded grimly.

Theadmiral looked to General Sedu. The general squared his shoulders. “What thehell do I have to lose? I’m already going to lose my name and reputation. Whynot?”

Theadmiral smiled crookedly and then looked at each officer. Those that lookedtroubled he pinned with a stern gaze. “Any who do not want to go we will leavebehind.” There was a look of relief in a few officers. He was a littledisappointed but wouldn’t hold it against them. After all, they still had timeto change their minds.

“Findout who else will join us. I’ll need a list of every ship, everything we cantake. Passengers on the planet too…”

“Whatabout other planets?”

“We’llsend out word and pick them up as we go. We might generate a mass exodus. If itis big enough they won’t dare try to stop us,” the admiral growled. The othersnodded in agreement.

“Let’sget to work.”

 

Covers

 Sitrep:

  So, Roo Collective isn't selling that well. That was to be expected but something of a bummer. It is sapping my mood a bit. Sigh.

   In other news I've tapered off on the AI, it isn't as much fun anymore. A useful tool still, but I've gone back to writing and doing other stuff. 

  Speaking of writing, 4 books are with the Betas and 1 is with Rea. I am pushing forward with Shelby 8 Uneasy Truce. Here is the cover:

  The cover has an AI enhanced element with the Tauren at the bottom. If all goes as according to plan we will be seeing it published before the end of the month. (hopefully! Maybe! Honestly, part of it is out of my hands!)

I'll start posting snippets of it later this week.

Next on the schedule is Tales of the Federation book 6 World Builders:

  The World Builders story will play a small role in Shelby 8 and Lowering the Hammer. Expect it out this fall.

Next is a 1 off story Noah's Arks

  This is another survival story and is not in any of my existing universes. It started as an idea for a short story and grew to the point that I had to kick it into its own novel. :)

Next up is Lowering the Hammer Pirate Hunt 3

  That cover was also enhanced with AI. (the battle moon) A few of the Betas have it and I've been adding scenes from Jethro 9 Siege to it now.

  Speaking of Jethro 9, I just passed the 1/3rd mark with it. It is starting to pick up speed despite my ongoing health issues and the relentless heat. :P

  If anyone would like to see New Dawn and Jethro 1 in print please speak up here or on the Facebook forum. Maybe have a poll? I'll ask the Betas... I am a bit leery about it though, the Bootstrap Colony print project didn't go over well.

That is it for now!

The Roo Collective has Published!

 Yep, got it back from Goodlifeguide.com late last night and published it today. :)

 

Book 86!

About:

  The Roolived underground and did their best to get by. They lived in a cruel dangerousworld but stubbornly held on to their ideals. Some of their people were doingtheir best to improve their lives steadily by introducing inventions. Othersfought, bled and in a few cases died to protect their growing society from thebeasts in the forests above.

  But thenstrange beings in a giant silver craft landed in a clearing nearby and began towreak havoc. The Roo must learn to defend themselves like never before.

The Roo collective is a collection of 4 shortstories combined to tell their story.

Amazon: The Roo Collective

B&N: EAN 2940186070245 (to be continued)

Roo Collective Snippet 4

 Final snippet. :)

 

Lop Ear heard the thunder of the Thunker Tree. Itwas reverberating through the forest. Many Roo had gone to nearby Thunker Treesto tell the story of the Giant that had been slain. Their story was beingstepped on and drowned out by each other.

He shook his head. They were excited about thevengeance, the victory as some called it. He was just damn tired and sore. Helimped over to the side.

It had been only a few finger lengths of timesince the other Giants had come to take their dead away. He was wary of them.It bothered him.

“Did you hear?” Fast Thumper said breathlessly.

“Hear what?” Lop Ear asked tiredly. Black Specklehugged his side and looked up to his brother. His body felt like one bigbruise. His arm had a ring around it under the fur. The healers said it wasmost likely a crack in the bone. It was braced with a splint. He had anotheraround his ankles and had been told not to move.

Which meant his mate and litter were cuddling withhim to keep him from moving. They were practically smothering him, not that hecomplained. Black Speckle wanted to share his presence and warmth and he’dnever complain about that.

At least not when he was feeling like she’dskinned him and pounded his flesh out and then put his skin back on. She’dthreatened to do something similar when he recovered, which had amused him.Funny how family threaten your life for risking it to save them?

He gently stroked her back with his good hand andnuzzled her.

Fast Thumper’s ears went back a little but then hestraightened. “Hollow Garden and Green Painted Rocks are sending some Roo tosee what happened!” His eyes were wide. “And other communities want to sendsome Roo to see!”

Hollow Garden and Green Painted Rocks were twoallied communities nearest to them. They had both done well from trade betweenthe communities as well as the things that the makers thought up in theircommunity.

Lop Ear’s ears twitched in amused sarcasm. BlackSpeckle snorted softly in disdain. “Why now?” She asked. More than one Roo hadbeen put out over the lack of support. When the Giants had appeared and thenattacked their warren the Roo community had been slaughtered by their poisonfog. Those that had survived had managed to make their way to the Thunker Treeand forge a new warren there.

It was expanding greatly. But they’d had tosurvive the long cold season to do it. No other communities had lent theirsupport. It had been a bitter experience. When their neighbor’s warrens hadbeen struck by calamity their warren had sent additional support to help themthrough the tough times.

Fast Thumper looked at her like she’d asked thestrangest question.

“I mean it. They could care less about our plightbefore. Why risk their Roo now?” Roo were not known for taking risks. Well,common Roo. Defenders like her mate and his messenger brother were different.Defenders stood sentry duty to watch for dangers and when something came theyran to the fight to put themselves between the danger and the other Roo.

She was proud of her mate for that part of hischaracter. Proud but worried. She knew deep down it would eventually cost himhis life. But at the moment her swelling pride overrode the fear of his loss.Even with the current reminder of his … bravado.

“I think they want to know more about how we didit in case they need to do it themselves,” Fast Thumper said slowly. Themessenger looked thoughtful.

“And no doubt they want a part of the glory ofkilling one such thing. You were one of the first to kill a stomper, right?”she asked her mate. She looked at him.

“Not me, my sire,” Lop Ear replied as he strokedher ear and then the head of a kit came out from under the sash pouch on herside. He shifted his hand to the kit to use a fingertip to stroke the velvetbridge of the nose and over the tightly-closed eyes. The tiny eyes and ears hadyet to open. The kit mewed and then began to make yum yum faces.

Black Speckle had frozen when he touched the kitbut she seemed to relax almost explosively. She reached down to cuddle the kitto her and then helped to guide it to a nipple.

“Someone needs a change,” Fast Thumper said with awrinkled nose.

“When don’t they?” Black Speckle grumbled. “Whenthey aren’t sleeping, they are pooping and suckling. It is a never-endingcycle,” she said as she sat up to help the other kits find nipples.

“What goes in has to come out eventually,” hermate said. “Looking forward to diaper changing duty, brother?”

Fast Thumper’s eyes went comically wide. He backedaway frantically shaking his head. He stumbled against the nest door and thentook off, half falling in the hallway.

Black Speckle snickered. “That was mean.”

“I know. But serves him right for waking us upwith something like that.”

Black Speckle snorted.

He groaned softly.

“What? What’s wrong?” She pushed him down as hetried to get up.

“Now that I’m awake, I’ve got to pee,” he growledas he struggled slowly to his feet. She snickered as he lurched over to the potand then growled. It was full so he had to take it out.

“Here,” she said as she undid her sash and herfast hands quickly took the dirty diapers off the litter. He groaned as shehanded him the mess. At least they were disposable, having been made out ofleaves rather than cloth this time.

He wrinkled his nose and kept the chamber pot atarm’s length as he exited their nest chamber slowly.

~======~

Tinker, like most Roo, was most active at night.He had so many projects going but the other elders had asked him to focus onthe Giants. He had so much new material that he had agreed. He needed toconsolidate it with what they’d gotten in the previous encounters.

He had his folder open with his papers out on hisworktable to go over his findings and organize his notes. He was still puzzledby the creatures.

Among many things that didn’t make sense, he noteddifferences in the bodies of the Giants from previous times he’d sketched them.His eye was keen; he knew he was not wrong. They had seemed, gaunt, almoststarved. They seemed to eat meat more than other things. He went through hisnotes and checked. Sure enough there was no mention of the Giants gatheringplant matter. Odd. Very strange.

He made a note to ask the healers about it.

~======~

You can read the rest in The Roo Collective!

 

The Roo Collective Snippet 3

 Snippet 3

 

Counter stumped through the new warren, feelingevery bit of his advanced age. It was getting there though, one day at a time.He paused to let some younglings pass and then kept moving.

There were vertical movers but one was in use andthe other was loading so he elected to take the stairs. It was hard on his oldknees but the cane helped.

His free hand touched the polished railing as hetook the steps up to the top of the tree.

The new warren was centered around the thunkertree that had offered his people refuge during their moment of crisis. Withinthe tree the Roo people had found temporary shelter against the weather,predators, and the giants who had attacked their old home with poison fog.

Now, thanks to the surviving diggers it wasextending outward. They had gone out under the surface initially, splaying outin tunnels in all directions before going deeper to get below the frost linebefore the cold snap.

The diggers had achieved it. They had found an oldstomper skeleton to help with their efforts. He had just come from touring thatarea in his rounds.

As he went higher, the air grew colder. He pulledthe shawl tighter over his shoulders. His fur had thickened in the cold but hewas old. The cold seemed to seep into him more and more as each cold seasonbegan.

The climb was good for him, and the view wasrefreshing. He enjoyed that there were fewer Roo as he climbed; most had movedinto the tunnels and were huddled in the cramped quarters underground. Many ofthe oldsters were trying to hibernate. Some of the very old who had survivedhad passed away in their sleep. He worried about the additional loss of thatprecious knowledge.

Perhaps it was for the best though, the old ideasgiving way to new fresh ones that might keep them alive, he thought as he sawTinker in his workshop. He passed the open door and kept going.

When he got to the lookout point, he nodded to thesentries there and then looked out, sniffing his air and feeling his eyes slitfrom the bitter wind chill. He wouldn’t remain there long; he didn’t want tocatch a chill. But he did like it now. Funny, he hadn’t before. He’d hatedbeing exposed to the outside. Now it was nice; the smells were better than thecrush of bodies below.

He took his time to look about them, nodding toeach of the sentries. They nodded back politely.

At each of the four corners, he stopped. They weremarked by the directions. One was to the east and the rising sun, opposite thatthe west and setting sun. The north was marked with an arrow pointing to theNorth Star and the northern lights. Therefore, the last point was to the south.

In each of those general directions, a Roocommunity was located. None had offered to send help. It angered him to beignored. They hadn’t even offered to take in some of the refugees. Nothing atall.

He sighed. There was supposed to be a convoy oftrade goods midway through the cold season if the weather cleared. He wascurious if they’d hear about inquiries about it or see it at all. It wasn’tlike his people had a lot to trade.

Well, certainly not food items. But a lot wascoming out of the old warren these days. He turned and looked down. The heightswere dizzying but he still looked. Below there was a path leading to the oldwarren. Half of it was underground, the other half in a trench of the whitewater. The ice had been packed over the top in some places. In others it wasopen, and he saw a steady flow of figures moving between the old warren and thenew.

The younger set moved quickly to avoid the cold.He didn’t envy them the task of cleaning out the old warren, but it needed tobe done.

He nodded once and then turned to the east and thedistant glittering shape. He could just see the top of it over the screen oftrees between them and the clearing far away. The white snow had fallen on thegiant warren but it was still there.

He glowered at it but then shivered when the windspicked up.

“Better get inside, Elder,” a defender said. Heturned to the defender in time to see the other Roo look to the sky. He lookedup to see clouds moving slowly in.

“Storm is coming in,” the Roo warned.

Counter nodded and headed back inside. He couldn’ttake the lift down until he went one floor down. Once there he waited patientlyfor his turn to ride it down. He could go upstairs but going back down wastroublesome and dangerous. His fear of falling was great, so he exercised hispatience and waited.

 ~======~

Lop Ear was also out and about, making the roundsaround the warren. His focus was just on his duty though, the defenders forwhich he had been selected as the new elder and therefore leader.

Unlike Counter he took to the skytop first andthen worked his way down. He was quiet though, and his quiet movementssometimes exposed a defender who was not doing their job. He found Fat Humpasleep, dozing in a sunny spot at his post. The old defender clutched at hisspear for support. Nearby, Shredded Ear was also fast asleep.

He scowled. One asleep he could overlook. Boththough, that was a problem.

He went inside to a healer room and grabbed alistening horn. The healer wasn’t present so would not mind the temporaryabsence, maybe.

Once he was out, he got in place and then placedit to his lips and did a credible imitation of a screamer. He watched the twodefenders jump, eyes wide, clutching their weapons and chests as they lookedfrantically to the sky. Shredded Ear clutched at his chest.

When their ears twitched to his movement as he hidthe horn, they lowered a look on him, wide-eyed, panting, and angry.

“Why did you do that?!” Fat Hump snarled. “Wecould have stabbed you!”

Lop Ear knew the chances of that happening wereremote at best. Neither oldster had been in a fight in many seasons. “Had Ibeen a giant or a predator you would have been the first to die. But then theywould have attacked the warren!”

“I earned my rest,” Fat Hump said with dignity ashe came to attention.

“Did you rest in your nest?” Lop Ear asked.

“I need more every day,” Fat Hump said with asniff, eyes to the horizon.

“Then we need to find you other duties,” Lop Earstated.

He was glowered at but ignored the look. Hesurveyed Shredded Ear who was looking a bit chagrined. The other Roo flickedthe remains of his ears in acknowledgment of the rebuke.

Lop Ear nodded once and went back to his duties,returning the horn on the way.

 ~======~