Ghost Squadron Omnibus

by Sarah Noffke

  Hatch leaned in closer. “Don’t tell anyone, but there are tears and radiation all over the galaxy. They are just in places where they don’t affect anything, or we have them under control.”

  “You’re trying to make me feel better,” Knox said, giving Hatch an accusatory expression.

  “I would never dream of doing such a thing. I’m simply saying that we are in a better place to stop the Saverus, now that we can follow them.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Knox turned the client over in his hands.

  “There’s something else that’s worth celebrating,” Hatch ventured.

  Knox looked up, curious. “What’s that?”

  “This whole journey. You’ve found your father, recaptured your memories, and found the missing piece of your puzzle.” Hatch pointed to the client.

  “My puzzle?” Knox asked.

  “Son, I’ve always thought you had a unique talent that most people in a pool of a million couldn’t match. An instinct that could make you possibly the best mechanical engineer of your generation.” Hatch cleared his throat, looking down at the client. “But what you’ve lacked all along isn’t something I can teach you, or even give to you… When you hold that client in your hands, what are you thinking about?”

  Knox found himself smiling. “It reminds me of how I felt before everything in my life fell apart. When I picked up this client for the first time, I had such confidence that it would bring me back to my father. Fix things.”

  “And in a way, it did,” Hatch said. “It just took a little longer than you expected. But if that Tangle Thief didn’t send you on the journey that it did, you might have never found your father again; the Federation might have placed you in a home, and you would have been brought up by a nice family, but there would have been no visit to Planet L2SCQ-6, and certainly no Ghost Squadron.”

  “So you think the Tangle Thief actually saved my life?” Knox asked.

  “I think that it’s all about perspective. Two people can look at a situation, and where one sees a tragedy, the other might see a miracle.”

  Knox nodded, thinking. “Do you think that, when I lost my father and used the Tangle Thief, I lost my confidence?”

  “Do you think that?” Hatch fired back at him.

  “Yeah, I think it makes sense that I would have lost my nerve then.”

  “And maybe it changes things now that you have perspective. Maybe you see that everything turned out for the best and that you made the right decisions,” Hatch said.

  Knox tilted the client in his hands, noticing how ordinary this complex object was. “So confidence is the one thing I’m lacking that you can’t teach me?”

  “Confidence is the one thing that we all need in order to be successful at anything,” Hatch said, a meaningful expression in his dark eyes.

  “You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” Knox observed.

  “Gunner, I’ve been doing this for a long time, and even I sometimes lose my confidence.” Hatch reached out and plucked the client from his hands, holding it up in front of his face. “But the important thing to remember is that no matter what we lose, we can always get it back.”

  Brig, Ricky Bobby, Tangki System

  “You requested to see us,” Julianna said matter-of-factly.

  Eddie threw a contemptuous glare at the Saverus and then said to Julianna, “We have to keep this short. We have more pressing issues to deal with than looking at this snake-piece-of-shit.”

  The Saverus swayed behind the bars of her cell. “I’ve been thinking…”

  “That you don’t want to be thrown out the airlock?” Eddie pretended to ask.

  The Saverus shook her giant head. “That you were right. The council has turned their backs on me; my partner put my life at risk. I’m serving the Saverus when they won’t do anything to serve me.”

  “What does that mean?” Julianna pried.

  “It means that I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. I’ll talk,” the Saverus said.

  “How do we know you won’t betray us, like you did before?” Eddie challenged.

  “Because I have no reason to,” she said.

  “You want to live. This could be purely out of self-preservation,” Eddie reasoned.

  The snake’s eyes glowed bright for a moment. “My entire race has betrayed me. Believe me when I say that I’ve considered death to be a better way out of all of this.”

  “That’s morbid,” Eddie stated.

  “The truth is that what you said made me think. My race is ruthless and selfish. They know that using the Tangle Thief has major repercussions—Dr. Cheng Sung told us that much—but the elders don’t care,” the Saverus said.

  Eddie glanced at his watch, tapping his foot and ignoring the Saverus. “Jules, can this wait? We’ve got somewhere to be.”

  She squinted at him. “If you’re throwing me a surprise birthday party, I’m going to kick you in the nuts.”

  The Saverus laughed, which sounded strange, marked as it was by the hissing. Both Eddie and Julianna gave her sideways looks.

  “What?” she asked, sinking back. “That was funny.”

  Julianna shook her head. “We will consider your offer. If you talk, we’ll keep you alive…but we can’t offer you any more than that.”

  “And we want to know everything,” Eddie pressed.

  The Saverus nodded. “I’ll cooperate. I’ll tell you what the Saverus are up to, how they operate, and where the Petigren colonies can be found.”

  Julianna looked at Eddie, suddenly teeming with quiet excitement. She wanted to stay, question the Saverus. They needed to know as much as possible, and quickly.

  However, Eddie tapped his watch, that anxious look in his eyes.

  “Okay, fine,” Julianna finally said. “We will return tomorrow to learn everything you have to offer,” she assured the prisoner.

  Eddie strode for the door and pulled it open. Again, he tapped his foot.

  “Oh, and one more thing,” the Saverus said.

  Julianna cast a quick glance over her shoulder, her facial expression saying, ‘What?’

  “My name is Penrae,” the Saverus said.

  “We lost the battle, but we have a great advantage now,” Julianna said, her tone urgent.

  She hadn’t stopped talking since they left the brig.

  “Right, right.” Eddie ran his hands absentmindedly over his stubbled chin.

  “If we can take out the Petigren colonies, that’s their brute force. The Saverus will be mostly powerless,” Julianna continued.

  Eddie halted in front of a door, holding a hand up to pause Julianna. “Can we put that Saverus business aside for a moment?”

  Julianna’s mouth popped open like she was going to argue. She nodded, seeming to resign a bit.

  “Good,” Eddie chirped. “Now, I realize that, with the mission, you’ve been distracted. And, I know I give you a ton of shit for risking your life for things I deem silly, but I want to take a moment to commend you. Jules, you’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever worked with. You’re a control freak at times, and you drive me downright fucking bonkers.”

  “Please tell me this is going somewhere, or I really will kick you in the balls,” Julianna said.

  Eddie turned the handle for the door, but kept it closed. “Yes. My point is that I wouldn’t have you any other way. I may not always understand you, but when all is said and done, you’ve never let me down. You’ve never let any of us down. You, Commander Fregin, are fucking amazing.”

  Eddie stepped back as he opened the door, throwing his arm out in presentation.

  Standing squarely in the middle of the room was a dog that looked almost like Harley. It was Harley, but…he was bigger, his brown coat was sleeker. When Julianna stepped into the room, Harley stood at attention, his ears perking up.

  Julianna blinked down at the beautiful, almost regal dog. She tilted her head to the side, trying to compute all the emotions that were piling up one on top of the other in
side her.

  Eddie’s words. The fact that Harley had made it. Everything that had happened. All stirred together, it made something in her chest thump hard. Julianna found herself smiling down at the dog. His bright eyes seemed to smile back.

  Hello, Julianna, Harley said in her head.

  Hello, Harley, she said, a little unnerved.

  Thank you for saving me…again.

  I did what I felt was right.

  Harley stood, gracefully strolled over to Julianna, twirled around, and sat down dutifully at her feet.

  Well, staying by your side feels like the right thing for me to do, he said, looking up at her with deep loyalty shining in his eyes.

  FINIS

  Author Notes - Sarah Noffke

  March 31, 2018

  I work a lot. Craig Martelle writes a book in the time it takes me to clean my downstairs half-bathroom. He’s a machine who reports to work eighty-hours a week. I don’t think I work that many hours, but I’m also a full-time mom to a six-year old. I work as much as makes sense to get the books written, which usually leaves me with little time to socialize, which isn’t a problem for me since I have friends in my head. But my “real” friends, who don’t fly Q-Ships and have badass super powers, have communicated a concern that I don’t spend enough time partying. Well, I have one friend in particular.

  Just before I was about to start this book, this friend, who I’m glad doesn’t do illegal drugs, because she’s very pushy, demanded that I go on a three-day cruise to Mexico. Let’s cut this long story short. I went. I got the drink package. The cruiseline made money on the drink package. I tried to pretend I was doing research for my next book by strolling around a giant cruiseship, which I reasoned was pretty much the same thing as a spaceship. I think my reasoning was faulty, but I obviously should have drank more tequila. That’s going to be the moral to this story when I get to the end. Damn that drink package!

  I’ve now entitled that cruise the “Great Reset”. You know those times in your life where everything goes completely wrong so that everything can go completely right? I know, that probably doesn’t make sense, but it’s true. I found myself sharing a closet of a room with two other women and a forced feeling that I needed to “party and relax.” The cruise started off badly and got worse as we sailed out to sea.

  Why, you ask? Yes, probably because I didn’t take advantage of my drink package.

  But also, because my life was resetting itself. Being a full-time author is tough. It’s demanding and scary and I’m constantly putting my ego in the corner. Balancing time for friends is hard and I guilt myself for not spending more time with people. And most importantly, there’s my daughter. I could go back into the steady profession of college administration, but that sucked out my soul. When I tell Lydia to follow her dreams and take risks, I want her to see I’m talking the talk and walking the walk.

  So I went on this trip conflicted on if I was doing the right thing being a writer. Was that the best thing for me, my daughter and my loved ones? I returned to the west coast after having a miserable time and there were two things I had missed dearly: Lydia and writing.

  Michael and I had a nice heart to heart during the construction of this book. I’m sure many of you know this, but MA really cares about the wellbeing of the authors he works with, not just about the books. We discussed this “reset” I was going through and afterwards, I felt infinitely better. Following our dreams is tough. It’s scary. It’s demanding. But I’ve got a fantastic team and people like Michael and Craig to support my efforts.

  If I hadn’t gone on that cruise then I wouldn’t have questioned my current job as an author. I wouldn’t have realized that it’s the only thing that truly makes me happy professionally. I wouldn’t have faced up to all my fears and realized, no matter what, I want to make this work.

  I also wouldn’t have realized that I have the perfect profession because I never feel that I need a break from it. My friend demanded that I take a vacation, but when I returned, I realized I didn’t want one. I had missed my job.

  So I have the perfect job for me. I have an amazing child. I have some time for other people and things. Fuck anyone who doesn’t like it.

  Okay. I’m done with that. Moving on.

  I love interacting with the fans on Facebook. My editor might have thought I’d lost my mind when I told her that I was throwing in a bunch of random references because I was challenged by the readers. Otter assassins and trash pandas in a sci-fi book isn’t something you see every day. So I’ve got a lot of thanks to give to the fans for the suggestions for this book. If I miss anyone, please message Craig (preferably at an off hour).

  John Calvert, you’re the mastermind behind this whole otter assassin business. I blame you for the rubber chickens as well as Rocco Lauria, Liz Ehret Re, Tracey Brynes, Wayne Hamilton, Ron Gailey, Sherry Foster, Kevin Mcdonnell, Pat O’Brien. Chrisa Changala, not only did you educate me on terms, but I loved throwing in the trash panda reference. This whole thread on Facebook kept me laughing today. Like Kristoffer Pyle’s giraffe. That shit was genius.

  I also polled the fans for suggestions for the karaoke scene. I couldn’t believe how many times Bohemian Rhapsody was mentioned. Thanks to Tim Adams, Mandi Fawcett and Karen Cabael for that. Natale Roberts suggestion of Hey Jude was randomly picked as Chester’s song. I had to include Lori Hendriks for I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing. Oh and Eric Hernandez, thanks for the suggestion for Thunderstruck. You all rock. I added all the suggestions to the playlist for Ghost Squadron.

  Ron Gailey, I love your suggestions. Never stop sending them. The laser that blasts the junkyard at the end was one of your ideas that I ran with. Thank you.

  Cars again played a big role in the book. I actually got bored of spaceships and guns on the cover so I told my cover designer to add a classic car. I used many of the suggestions from the readers for cars mentioned in the book. Thanks to Alastar Wilson for the ’69 Corvette Stingray idea. Diane L. Smith gets the credit for the Mustand 390GT. David Pollard and Nora McGuirk also gave me great suggestions for the 67 GTO and many other cars. Thank you all!

  Okay, without further ado, I turn the stage over to MA and his tap shoes.

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  April 2, 2018

  (THANK YOU for reading these notes… That is all!)

 

  No, I can’t really just say that and leave but I was tempted, so sorely tempted.

  Who the hell is going to surpass the baring of someone’s soul like Sarah just did?

  I know I can’t.

  It feels like those books where I was author blocked by Martha Carr and Brandon Barr. They shared these deep and intimate hard times in their lives in up on stage (in their author notes), and then the light switches from them (with the accompanying applause) to me and I’m there, eyes wide open, staring at Martha and Brandon then staring at the crowd thinking….shit!

 

  I enjoyed my conversation with Sarah and really appreciate her offering me a chance to see inside her mind and feelings. She mentioned a situation with her brother I will carry with me the rest of my life. She said this:

  When my brother died, he died with songs inside him we will never hear…

  That was a mic-drop moment for me.

  I’m honored to be entrusted with her work, her dreams, her aspirations and above all, her friendship.

  Let’s make sure your stories are all on (digital) paper, Sarah.

  Ad Aeternitatem,

  Michael Anderle

  (P.S. – I laughed out loud and pumped my fist in the air when she said in her author notes, “If I miss anyone, please message Craig (preferably at an off hour).”

  Absolutely, please do that.

  It will be fucking hilarious – I promise. That jerk made me a horrible mayor in one of his books and I’ve yet to get him back for that.

  (Not that I’m bitter or anything.)

  Pre
servation

  Chapter One

  Deck 12, Onyx Station, Paladin System

  Verdok ran his tongue across the back of his teeth. Having a human mouth always took getting used to. Their teeth were so flat and seemingly useless. At least this body was strong and agile; he couldn’t stand impersonating weak humans.

  He raised his hand and knocked at the door, listening intently to the shuffling that erupted from the other side. The person he was calling on probably wasn’t expecting any visitors.

  Multiple locks clinked on the other side before the door slid back, though only as far as the chain would allow. A green eye partly framed by a bushy gray eyebrow blinked back at him. The person startled, jumping back and fumbling with the chain. The door finally flew open, and a woman stood staring, her mouth wide.

  “General Reynolds!” she exclaimed, bowing low as she extended a hand, like she was so surprised she didn’t know how to greet the honored guest.

  “Annaliese Vincent,” Verdok said in a warm voice. “I hope I’m not disturbing you too early.”

  Annaliese threw her gaze down to the flowery dressing gown she was wearing. She clutched it self-consciously. “Disturbing me? Not at all. But did I miss a note about a meeting?”

  Verdok shook his head. “Something has come up, and I’m seeking your help with a project. Can I come in?”

  “Of course, General.” Annaliese stood back, opening the door wide.

  Verdok strode into the spacious apartment, his eyes intent.

  “I’m happy to help on a consulting basis, as I’ve done in the past,” Annaliese began.

  Verdok slid the briefcase he’d been carrying onto a side table, unbuckling the latches. “Actually, I was hoping you’d take a classified project.”

  “But I’m retired, and my security access has expired,” the old scientist said, hurrying over and looking up at the General.