by Chris Hechtl
Once it arrived at the jump point, Shelby had pulled the crews from the surviving gunships and stuck them in the fortress. The fortress lacked shields and had no weapons, but they could control the weapon drones and missile pods. A second, third, and fourth fortress were already in the works.
Construction at the yard had been halted by the glut of repair work, however some of the production lines restarted on the eve of the seventh day. They had depleted their missile supply to replenish the ships and missile pods. They also needed more mines, though Shelby lowered the priority on their production. The enemy's use of nuclear weapons to clear a path for them just proved the mines had a limited utility.
Once she was certain of victory, Shelby dispatched a Sojourner class courier to go to the Trajin Cluster spreading the word of the battle and that the pirates had been forced to retreat. The courier would also alert the convoys coming in their direction that the coast was clear … for the moment.
Epilogue
Tortuga
Rumors of dark experiments and disappearing Neos swirled about Tortuga with Doctor Wilhelm rumored to be at the center of it all. He had accused and gotten several Neos spaced on spurious charges and had gotten two Neos to fight each other in the dome. His alliance with William and Burke kept him alive, that and his reputation of being a true Horathian.
Doctor Goethe hadn't been happy about the doctor's activities, and his insistence that they needed to continue to test and improve the viability of the various plagues might sound right … but doing so on the Neo waifs had been risky in her estimation. They'd gotten away with it by paying a couple people to round them up on the sly, including a human named Zambika.
Everything came to a crashing halt when a battered pair of warships arrived at the Tau-1252 jump point.
]][#]]]{OO}===}==>
Vice Admiral Ishmael left the repairs of Black Death in the hands of Captain Black as he assembled the pirate lords. Kix had his work cut out for him as did Captain Dab. They'd better have a plan to get Black Death shipshape quickly. He had a store of parts and some missiles but not many. Black Death had shot herself almost completely dry in the engagement. He was pretty certain the navy was busy replenishing their losses, if they hadn't already.
It was just one more reason to get ready to move, he thought darkly. Sailors lined the walk, but they were mostly ignored. He grimly nodded to Captain Gutt as the Neoorangutan met up with him at the main entrance of the court.
The admiral waved a hand and the door guards opened the massive doors. He wasn't certain if there was an air of resentment and anger over the drubbing he and his ship had just gone through. He knew his position as alpha leader was precarious at best. For the moment that was of little concern to him as he marched slowly into the suddenly quiet court to his chair.
He turned to the assembly as Captain Gutt took his place. The admiral didn't bother to turn and sit; he stood on the dais, one hand on his broad belt, the other on the hilt of his cutlass.
“Is it true? Were we betrayed by the homeworld?” a voice demanded.
“Aye,” the admiral growled, eyes cutting to one of the few humans in the group. He was surprised by that. He'd thought they'd go after him for his loss, but he saw a narrow opening to shift blame. “We were betrayed by the humans who recently came from there,” his upper lip curled in a snarl. “I have seen the videos with my own eye,” he growled. Which was true, the prize crews on 8116 had transmitted enough recordings to verify everything the commodore had told him about Horath.
“So, it's true,” Captain Ragar, a massive grizzly bear snarled, turning on Doctor Wilhelm as the man tried to back away to the door. He was silently surrounded by growling Neos of all species. “I call this one out for the dome!” Ragar thundered, looking up to the crowd. “Too long some of our people have disappeared. He has been rumored to be the one doing experiments on them. I call him to the dome!”
The doctor gulped as all eyes went from him to the admiral, and then back again. He could tell there was no support from the admiral. “What if I say no?” Doctor Wilhelm asked in a slow, shaky voice.
“That is your right,” the admiral said. “As an officer, you have special unique skills and are commissioned to fulfill your duties. But …”
“But, sir?” Doctor Wilhelm asked warily.
“But, you will lose all respect and authority. I will strip you everything and give you the shittiest assignments I can find. By the time I'm through with you, you'll hang yourself or take a walk out a short airlock; it be no difference to me,” the admiral said with a predatory grin. “If someone else doesn't do it for you in a dark alley,” he growled.
Answering growls around the doctor told him he wouldn't survive long. His sphincter clenched. He did everything he could not to let his bowels and bladder betray him as terror overtook him.
“But … but he's a Neo! I'm … I'm a human! He's fifty times stronger than me, has claws … teeth! He'll eat me!”
“Mmm, he very well might. Or I might,” the admiral said as Doctor Wilhelm stared at him. “What? I never said it was fair!” there was a roar of laughter from the group. “Life be not about fair or not, Doctor Wilhelm, nor is life among pirates if ya had'na noticed. Be it fair or foul, we will get our revenge for what be done to our kin back home,” the admiral said.
“Ar!” Captain Gutt said, punching one fist into his open palm. “Why wait for the dome? Why don't we tear this one apart now?” he demanded.
“It be a thought,” the admiral drawled as a heavy hand grabbed the human by the shoulder. Doctor Wilhelm felt himself being lifted up off the floor. He wailed in terror as he was thrown to the ground and the pack descended on him with yellowed teeth and claws.
“Find the other one! The woman! And anyone who helped them!” the admiral roared.
Heads lifted, wolves bayed, and then some rushed out the doors to find the female.
]][#]]]{OO}===}==>
Doctor Goethe heard the rush and roars and saw that the end was near. She saw the Tau pirates enter the outer offices that Doctor Wilhelm had secured for their experiments. They ravaging Mister Zambika and the others who were there. Some fought back desperately or called for parlay. Most were ignored.
She couldn't help but whimper as she barricaded the door to the lab. She looked around wildly, but the only other door was to a supply closet. No help there. She realized there was no place to run, nor any point. They'd find her anyway.
No, she couldn't run, but she had one last duty to perform, one to the state. If she couldn't run she'd make them pay for her death, she thought as a sudden burst of fervor and courage overtook her. Her lower lip quivered in fear as she moved to the cabinet. She kept looking over her shoulder to check the door, listening to the shouts and weapons fire, the screams. She unlocked the cabinet and then pulled a rack with the vials on it out and then took a syringe. She mixed them carefully, then drew the cocktail into one syringe.
She held the full syringe in front of her face as she stared at it. She wasn't certain if it would work, if it was worth it. If she'd had time she would have sprayed it into the air ducts as she'd planned when they finally abandoned the place. Eugen's idea to use the pirates to spread the virus, it had backfired and he was dead, she was certain of that. She knew there was no escape.
She waited until they had ripped a hole in the door before she slumped down behind the counter and rolled her left sleeve up. She winced as she plunged the syringe into her arm, but she only injected half into her. She then pulled the syringe out and sprayed her snow-white lab coat with the rest of the cocktail as a hand reached in to pull away her barricade and they forced the door open.
“Come out of there. We can smell you female,” a voice growled menacingly.
She raised her hands slowly. “D … d … don't shoot,” she whimpered as a blinding light made her squint and blink back tears. “I'm not armed,” she said as she rose slowly and kicked the syringe under the counter. She was shaking, but that was the terror she k
new. If she could stall … she might …
Then she remembered what the plague did. It drove them … insane, she realized as one of the wolves grabbed her. He had blood all over his muzzle, it dripped on her. He sniffed her then coughed.
“Traitor,” the wolf snarled as he sniffed her again and then snorted. He drew a finger across her throat. “I want the head. There are some good eatings there,” he growled as one of his pack mates began to claw at the woman.
“Kill her first or …?”
“Eat her alive. Make it last,” the wolf snarled as the woman gibbered and soaked herself. “Ah, music …” the wolf coughed. “To my ears,” he said, coughing again as he opened his mouth to show her his sharp teeth.
Author's Afterward
Wow, another book done! I had to keep things vague and of course things didn't quite go as I'd planned. I dumped a lot of material I'd planned in the book into Shelby book 2 (untitled). I also let slip a few minor details in this book as I did in Enemy of my Enemy and Jethro 5. As usual I'll do some crossover material from this book to The Gathering Storm … if and when I get to it.
Off the top of my head (before I forget in other words), I'd like to thank Wayne Gaskin for sticking with me and “encouraging me to finish” (i.e. nag) as much as he did. Plus, his ideas were fun to bounce around. Some you'll undoubtedly see in Shelby 2. (Maybe. More on that later.)
I bet you didn't expect the pirate twist! I had planned it for a later book, sometime in Pi sector or elsewhere, but I thought since Tau was so far out there, why not.
Speaking of piracy though (he says, climbing onto a soapbox), I'm getting hammered by virtual piracy. In the past year, I've seen my sales drop by three quarters. I had thought it was all due to Amazon's lending policies plus market saturation, but then I recently did some digging. I found over forty websites giving away or even selling my books. (Selling them for more money than I do!) Many are phishing sites I admit. One so-called library site lists its download numbers weekly; based on those numbers I've been losing 800 sales a week. Just on that site alone! They only have half of my books there too! That is a hard hit. Expand that to the other sites and … ugh.
Side note, a library buys a physical copy of the book and then lends that one book out. These so-called virtual libraries allow anyone to download the book. That is not a library; that is a pirate host. But apparently, they don't see it that way and a few have been countersuing to stay up and running.
I … Hate … Lawyers. They are expensive and a headache.
But I am learning the hard way that they are a necessary evil.
It is … depressing, frustrating … deeply depressing. It threw me off writing the end of Convoy for several days. The last time I dealt with the pirates two years ago it worked briefly and things went back to normal. I guess I took my eye off the ball for too long. I admit, I'm supposed to run my books like a business, but I'm not that great at some aspects of it. I fall into the trap of writing and only wanting to write or do the covers, to tune the rest out and not bother with it. That has to change.
I've been breaking even the past six months, the last three books including Jethro 5 have had horrible sales. Jethro 5 will be my first big book to not break even. Retribution barely broke even. That is even more depressing, especially when you see the reviews. All of my old books have little to no sales at all. I spent several days last week trying in vain to do something about the losses, the pirate hosts have copyright notice systems … but they play games with you when you try to use them, then ignore the notices and keep the books up anyway. Google was the only one to take it seriously with the bloggers, but Yahoo just said yeah okay and left them up. GRR.
This isn't working therefore. So, I need to explore my options. One option is legal, but I've been told it is hit or miss and there will always be pirates out there. I get that. But this is getting out of hand.
Another option is to go with a publishing house. I explored that option once, I'd lose 20 percent of my income there. I don't know if it would be worth it or not. Since some of Amazon's zones drop my royalties to 35 percent I'd be making 15 percent. I personally don't see that as worth it for me.
The other option is to examine my life and decide if I wish to continue writing when it is no longer fulfilling or financially sustainable. I don't know; it is something I'm going to have to think about. Working in 3D was fun but not nearly as stable financially. It is also a saturated market as well.
I have decided to stop killing myself by writing a book every five-six weeks. I had planned two books to write this year, I'm going to write just the one, the second Founding of the Federation short story book (currently untitled) while I figure out my options and deal with the upcoming holidays. (My sister wants to go Christmas shopping next week! GAH!)
Duncan has a bit of free time; he'd like to get the wiki sorted out. I can do that too. I need to poke Jory; he's been strangely quiet.
I started a guest strip for Sluggy Freelance. I guess I should finish it and get Pete to take a gander at it. Now that it is nice and cool out I can finally do some 3D work and renders. :)
Oh, I also started puttering around with making the various characters in Daz, starting with Vice Admiral Ishmael. I'll put him up sometime, plus maybe the Tau map and other stuff. I bought a ton of stuff for the Horathians earlier this year and last year; I've been wanting to do a series of images and stuff there too.
But … that is all dependent on if I can sort the piracy issue out. If you see my books being pirated, please, please report them if you want to see further adventures of Jethro, Shelby, Horatio, and especially Admiral Irons. If you want to read more of these stories, please think twice before uploading my books to the web.
Edit: Since writing that passage I tried to take down my books on my own but was forced to hire an outside contractor. We shall see how that works out. I am leaving this up to let you the reader know that it isn't cool to pirate books.
But, my frustration and depression might have ebbed slightly as far as piracy has concerned... only to rise anew with the election. Never have I been so disgusted and sickened with my fellow citizens as I have now. Wow. A bigot, homophobic, racist, lecherous man in the White House. I realize those of you who voted for him wanted a shake up and to send up a middle finger to the established order... I don't agree that he was the right way to do it. But I like you am entitled to vote, and to our own opinions.
All I can say is, it is going to be a long and crazy next couple of years. XP
As usual you can read more on my blog. :)
Cast:
Below is a raw list of characters from the book. It is by no means complete.
Prometheus:
Commodore Shelby Logan: Daughter of Horatio Logan. Promoted to Captain JG, then SG. Frocked to Commodore. Flag rank became permanent in transit.
Ensign Bonbibi: AKA Boni. Hindu name for spirit of protection in the forest. personal A.I. of Commodore Logan.
Lieutenant Commander Cynthia Troll –”Trollope”: blond female, curly Shirley Temple hair. Former chief engineer of Prometheus turned XO.
Lieutenant JG Prometheus: evolving ship A.I. Formerly an ensign.
Lieutenant JG Carl Talon: Male, chimera, quartermaster. Mother had been a civilian purser. -promoted to lieutenant.
Lieutenant Portia Ming: female Neopanda, Helm and navigator -promoted to 1st lt.
First Lieutenant Adbul Sulistyo: Neo orangutan Chief Engineer. Promoted to Lieutenant Commander. Take on Shipyard.
Lieutenant JG Oz Kettle: Neogorilla assistant engineer -Promoted to lieutenant. Take over Chief engineer slot
Lieutenant JG Z'k'th'ss'th: TACO Naga male. -promoted to lieutenant. Given command of a sublight frigate.
Lieutenant JG L'n'v'll: Ops Male Veraxin. -Promoted to lieutenant. replaced by Lieutenant Pan.
Lieutenant Roman Taylor: Human, sleeper from Lemnos. Former personal medic to Admiral Subert.
First lieutenant Howard Jardin: Communications. Problem lieutenant.
Human.
Ensign Gregoire “Ham” Pan: Neochimp male. Attempted a transfer early on. Settled down. Promoted to lieutenant JG. Replaced Lieutenant L'n'v'll at ops.
Note: 6 ensigns on board including above.
Ensign Shrin a JAG lawyer fresh out of the academy.
Ensign Shawn Brudbaker Tactical. Promoted to Lieutenant JG and given TACO slot on Prometheus.
Senior CPO Mick Williams: bosun. Male.
CPO Alf: Ship's yeoman. Short shaggy brown Neomutt. Short erect ears, muzzle that had been broken once. Black eyes. Cocker spaniel/Golden Retriever/Irish setter mix.
Bob: ship's police. Neo saint bernard male.
PO Bernard: Captain's Steward.
PO Harry Reeves: Neochimp male. Cousin who is a nurse on Florence Nightingale.
Ensign Fara Slatterly ONI officer picked up on Gaston. Newly minted. Native of Gaston. Parents died in a cyclone, was on the planet on berievement leave. -Promoted to Lieutenant JG in chapter 43.
1st lieutenant John Frost Marine commanding officer.
Lieutenant JG Sadie Black: Female Neo black Lab Flag lieutenant of Commodore Logan. -Promoted to LT.
Lieutenant JG Wigeon Black: Male Black Neolab. Brother to Sadie. Senior JAG officer. -promoted to LT.
Lieutenant Fixer: Female T'clock. Spacebee. Less into engineering more into personnel, admin, logistics, and training. Promoted to 1st LT.