Multiverse 7 Snippet 4

 Sitrep:

So, I just finished act 1 yesterday. I'm going to switch gears today to do the homework for it before sending it off to the Betas. :)

In other news I just received MV7 from Goodlifeguide. I'll be publishing it today or tomorrow!

I also sent the original Bootstrap Colony to Goodlifeguide so she can get a jump on the formatting for print. That has me nervous.

I'm still struggling with the back cover artwork.

On to the final snippet!

 

The following story is from Scamp, a follow up to the Federation story in MV6! Boy it was fun to write! 😄

 

EosXVIII, Sigma Sector

 

The Meridian class prowler,Batmobile, checked in again with the natives as they made their finalapproach and settled into orbit. They were masquerading as a small trampfreighter and were essentially on fumes. The captain had decided on stopping atthe planet over the other two stops in the cluster because they had not visitedit yet. There had also been recent unknown ion trail traffic to the other stopsso she’d skipped through SG5-235 rather than stopping and potentially gettingcaught.

It had meant they were runninglow on fuel though, and after a year of traveling from Beta sector, the crewcould use some fresh provisions and a relief to bulkhead fever. But there wereinherent dangers in lowering their guard.

They had found the hidden spysatellite and the AI had downloaded the dump of data. The skipper and AI werestill processing it. That didn’t matter to the rest of the crew at the momentsince the last ship had departed the star system just under a year ago. Theyhad a job to do, secure fuel and provisions; otherwise, they were going to bestuck in the star system for a long time.

The colony was in a cul-de-sacstar system. Named for Eos, Greek god of the dawn, it had a large ocean withsome unusual properties. That and a desire for a change in diet had helped theskipper chose their destination.

The mission was tricky; they weresupposed to maintain their cover in what was suspected to be a pirate alliedstar system.

Nothing that team members of theSpecial Warfare Group couldn’t handle of course.

===#===

Chief Petty Officer Joe Thomsonchecked the shuttle status as they came out of LOS. So far so good, now heneeded to get the hull temperature down so they could move on to the next phaseof the plan.

He glanced at the camera feed inthe rear. It was filled with trade goods and two of his teammates. He glancedto the copilot seat where Petty Officer Randy Guetta was going through theusual routine with the shuttle’s systems.

Because they were essentially inpirate space, most of the nonhuman team members were used for support insituations like this. Those that did get dropped had to hang back out of sightand therefore out of mind. They usually shrugged it off.

“Drop in three mikes fourteenseconds from … mark,” he announced over the PA.

He got two acknowledgments andthen sent a brief SITREP to the ship upstairs. He then took the yoke and begana series of S turns to bleed off some of their excess speed and thermal energy.

===#===

Mayor Lyle Tenaka was on hand forthe landing. Sheriff Jim Santos was off doing a patrol with his deputies,something about an owl bear raiding a chicken coop at Crawlies. He’d look intoit later.

He had let the commissioner knowabout the arrival. Commissioner Fenrir Malforth had been appointed by thepirate Empress to oversee trade with the planet. He was officially there as herrepresentative. There had been a cave-in at one of the mines after the rains sohe’d stopped there before coming to town.

Given that the rains had washedout some of the roads, he might be delayed a day or more. He hoped so at anyrate. The commissioner was a cold bastard. Scary, he thought with awince. He was also paranoid about the visiting tramp freighter for some reason.

They occasionally did see acivilian freighter or used to until the regular traffic with the pirates. Hesuspected that they had run off most of the civilian traffic or caught itbefore the Feds had shown up in the star system. So far he’d only seen threevisits by their ships, all cruisers. None had stayed longer than a week. Thelast had been two years ago.

They were looking for thepirate’s main base. He wasn’t sure he wanted them to find it. At the moment,trading with the pirates was lucrative. It was actual trade too, not tribute,which explained why he was reluctant to mention it to anyone, especiallyoutsiders.

He checked the weather andgrunted. He expected a series of storms to roll in by the end of the week asusual. He was pretty sure the ship would want to leave by then so the tradeshould be short and sweet.

===#===

As soon as they were below fifteenthousand meters, the chief went into a series of S turns to seemingly bleed offspeed. Which he was doing but he had another purpose for the maneuvers.

When the hull was safe enough,the rear hatch opened and Sully and Sia waddled out. Sully went over the rampas the light turned green, Sia a beat behind him. A line attached to the tigerdrew a package out with her.

They dropped below the shuttleand the ramp closed. Chief Thompson and PO Randy Guetta remained at thecontrols of the shuttle. They returned to the normal mission profile as thesniper team popped their chutes and then performed a water insertion belowthem.

===#===

Sully kept his hands crossed infront of himself and his body straight as a pencil as he dropped out of hischute and into the cold salt water. Plasma from their reentry had made thingshot initially, but the cold dip was a shock to his system.

Both SEALs had used a single-usesmall deflector to ward off the heat and plasma but they’d still felt a bit ofit. They’d had to be well clear of the wake of the shuttle before they coulddeploy their chutes. It wasn’t quite a classic HALO drop but it felt like it.

The package that had beenattached to Sia deployed after bobbing back to the surface. It inflated into arib, an inflatable small boat.

“Hurry up before the damn sharkscome to investigate the splashing,” Sully grumbled. PO Ben Sully was a Neochimpand the team’s best sniper. He was, however, a typical chimp and therefore hatedwater.

It was amazing though what onecould put up with if you were dedicated enough. He managed to get into the riband rolled to the side to make room for his much larger partner.

“No claws,” he warned.

“Teach your mother to suck eggs,”PO Sia Clarkson, the Neotiger engineer and spotter growled. She was there tohandle the communications for the sniper team as well. She clambered into theboat just as a fin broke the surface.

“Screw you,” she growled at thefish, holding up a one finger salute as Sully got the small motor going. Sheoriented on the coast with her implants and pointed in the direction they hadto go. “Six kilometers that way,” she said.

“Copy that,” Sully said.

They secured their gear and thenthe quiet motor roared to full power. They laid flat on the rib’s sides as theboat headed inland.

===#===

Scamp was grateful to be awake,so grateful he tried his best to be as helpful as possible around the ship.

He had been given basic civilianimplants with a jack during his physical exam. He knew that they could trackhim on the ship and off. It was not used when they played hide and seek though.He was particularly good at that game, whether he was seeking or hiding. TheSEALs were a bit chagrined to know he could smell them out even with theirimplants.

He had been awake for two monthsand was growing up a bit. The chief said he was maturing, which he attributedto regular schooling and his time on the ship.

He was allowed to be awake whilein port as long as he stayed out of the way and did his chores and schoolwork.He was determined to become a SEAL when they finally reached the Federation. Heeven worked out in the small exercise room and had passed a basic firearmssafety and marksmanship class.

He had a series of chores to do.Everyone had chores, so he wisely didn’t complain. His included checking shipsystems, watering the plants and caring for them, cleaning, and doing chores inthe galley. He was too young and not an official member of the crew so hecouldn’t stand watch. Not that he didn’t sit in a few times.

They did occasionally tease himabout nodding off. They were right and he was embarrassed but took it in goodstride most times, including the pranks some of the SEALs occasionally pulledon him when he did take a nap.

He did like that the choresrotated and that he could and did get back at the SEALs who pranked him onoccasion. They had a wicked sense of humor and enjoyed a good joke, even when theywere the butt of it. He’d also learned to not complain about being occasionallysingled out.

He rounded a corner and dippedinto the storage room off the tiny sickbay. The lights came on automatically.

He noted the cyborg woman in thestasis pod. He stared at her for a long moment before he turned, made a checkon his tablet, and then scampered off.

===#===