She turned and looked at Ricket, her expression now serious. “So, how did you do it?”
“How did I do what?”
“You know … get me into the other MediPod. Save my life. You never told me the whole story.”
Ricket suddenly looked like he’d swallowed a canary and his cheeks flushed.
“Ricket? Tell me … tell or I’ll stay here and bother you all night.”
“I … I lied.”
“You never lie.”
“I did not know of any other way to get the doctor to comply.”
“You mean to get what was left of my body into the new MediPod?”
Ricket nodded.
“So? What did you say to him?”
“I told him that the new MediPod was equipped with a small but powerful antimatter power unit. Which is true. One that I had just initiated a five-minute countdown on.”
“Countdown?”
Ricket didn’t answer. Then Dira’s eyes went wide. “Like a bomb? Like you set it to explode or something?”
Ricket gave the slightest of nods.
“Why would he believe that? It’s an obvious bluff … right?”
Ricket slowly shook his head. “It wasn’t completely a bluff. It took me several minutes to show him what I had done. He was intelligent enough, quite familiar with technology. And once he saw the descending numerical countdown, he knew, without a doubt, I was serious.”
“You would have blown up the hospital with all those innocent people? The patients?” Dira asked.
Ricket smiled. “The explosion would have only been enough to destroy the MediPod itself, nothing more.”
Grinning ear to ear, Dira hugged Ricket and kissed the top of his distorted head. “Well, I’m glad you did that for me, Ricket. You saved my life, and I’ll never forget that.” Suddenly, she picked up the black box and held it up in front of her. She spun it around from front to back and then shook it like a child would do with an unopened Christmas gift. She held it up close to her ear. “There’s something in there. Do you hear it?”
Ricket reached for the box but Dira raised it a bit higher, out of his reach. She moved her hands and held it now by its sharp corners. Dira spun the box a half-turn between her fingers and something made a loud click. She stopped spinning the box and looked at Ricket. “Oh crap, did I just break it? I’m so sorry.”
Ricket took the box from her and carefully placed it back down on the workbench. He saw what the click had been caused by. One side, a panel, of the box was ajar. He lifted the panel and looked inside.
“What is it? What’s inside, Ricket?”
He stared into the box for several seconds before looking up at Dira. He smiled. “I think we found our answer.”
The End.
Thank you for reading RICKET, Star Watch, Book 2!
If you enjoyed RICKET, please leave a review on Amazon.com — it really, really helps!
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Thank you, again, for coming along with me on these Sci-Fi romps across space.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful for the ongoing fan support I receive for all of my books. This book—number eleven, Star Watch, Ricket—came about through the combined contributions of numerous others. First, I’d like to thank my wife for her never-ending love and support. She helps make this journey rich and so very worthwhile. I’d like to thank my mother, Lura Genz, for her tireless work as my first-phase creative editor and a staunch cheerleader of my writing. I’d like to thank Mia Manns for her phenomenal line and developmental editing … she is an incredible resource. And Eren Arik produced another magnificent cover design—maybe his best yet! Thank you Lazar for the incredible website warship floor plans … it ads a whole new dimension to reading these books. Thank you Taryn Ikenouye for and amazing website experience … you’ve outdone yourself. A special thanks goes out to L.J. Ganser, who produces the audiobook versions of my books. Anyone looking for a truly immersive, not to mention ‘fun’ reading experience—with all his wonderful character voices … you have to try the audiobook version. I’d also like to thank those in my Tuesday writer’s MeetUp group, the Writer’s Idea Factory, who have brought fresh ideas and perspectives to my creativity, and elevating my writing as a whole. Others who provided fantastic support include Lura and James Fischer, Sue Parr, Stuart Church, and Chris DeRrick.
Other books by MWM
Scrapyard Ship
(Scrapyard Ship series, Book 1)
HAB 12
(Scrapyard Ship series, Book 2)
Space Vengeance
(Scrapyard Ship series, Book 3)
Realms of Time
(Scrapyard Ship series, Book 4)
Craing Dominion
(Scrapyard Ship series, Book 5)
The Great Space
(Scrapyard Ship series, Book 6)
Call To Battle
(Scrapyard Ship series, Book 7)
Mad Powers
(Tapped In series, Book 1)
Lone Star Renegades
(Lone Star Renegades series, Book 1)
Star Watch
(Star Watch series, Book 1)
Find Ricket
(Star Watch series, Book 2)
“Janissaries” by Chris Kennedy
The war with China was over and Lieutenant Shawn ‘Calvin’ Hobbs just wanted his life to get back to normal. The hero of the war, he had a small ream of paperwork to fill out, a deployment with his Navy F-18 squadron to prepare for and a new girlfriend to spend some quality time with. Life was good.
Until the aliens showed up.
They had a ship and needed to get to their home planet, but didn’t have a crew. They had seen Calvin’s unit in action, though, and knew it was the right one for the job. There was just one small problem—a second race of aliens was coming, which would end all life on Earth. Calvin’s platoon might want to do something about that, too.
Having won a terrestrial war with 30 troops, winning an interstellar war with nothing but a 3,000 year old cruiser should be easy, right?
“Janissaries” initiates “The Theogony,” a trilogy that will take Lieutenant Hobbs and his Special Forces platoon to the stars. It will also show them that there’s much more to Earth’s history than is written in the history books!
Praise for Chris Kennedy’s Science Fiction:
“Chris Kennedy takes humanity, the most recent newcomers to interstellar space -- and the reader -- on a roller coaster exploration of alien cultures with ancient animosities and startling technologies. There’s action and skullduggery in plenty, and along the way Kennedy gives the reader a look inside questions of morality, ethics, and the true meaning of personal responsibility, not simply to others, but to one’s self.”
- David Weber, Author of the Honor Harrington and Safehold Series
Catch up with Chris Kennedy at:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00E4MIJA8
Website: http://chriskennedypublishing.com/
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/chriskennedypublishing.biz
Twitter: @ChrisKennedy110
The following is an
Excerpt from “Janissaries” Book 1 of The Theogony:
Janissaries
___________________
Chris Kennedy
Available Now from Chris Kennedy Publishing
eBook, Paperback and Audio Book
Chapter Twenty-Three
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019
“Vipers are approaching the fourth planet,” said the operations officer. The sporadic power spikes had continued for several hours, but due to the random nature of the source, Arges hadn’t been able to triangulate it. It was coming from the direction of the fourth planet or its small moon, but he was unable to determine wh
ich. Arges had asked Captain Deutch to launch a couple of Vipers with sensor gear; the next time the power source activated, he would be able to triangulate it.
“Very well,” said Captain Deutch. Looking at the helmsman, he asked, “Our position?”
“We are holding at 125 million miles from Planet Four, as ordered,” replied the helmsman.
“Vella Gulf, this is Viper 02,” radioed Lieutenant Steve ‘Gecko’ Smith, the Weapons System Officer for the flight. “We are approaching the planet, but do not see anything abnormal yet. We are not picking up any energy readings at this time.” At that distance, radio waves would have taken over 11 minutes to make the journey from the fighter to the Vella Gulf. With the Psiclopes’ faster-than-light communications system, it was almost instantaneous.
“I’m starting to pick up readings of large concentrations of metal on the other side of the moon. The metal appears to be processed. We’re coming over the horizon where we ought to be able to see it. There is enough...Wait! I’ve got radars tracking us!...VAMPIRE, VAMPIRE, MISSILES INBOUND!” Gecko screamed.
“Missile launch from the moon of the fourth planet!” called the defensive systems officer from the Security position. “Six missiles launched...five are tracking Viper 02, and one is locked on Viper 03...”
Onboard Viper 02, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019
“Break right!” yelled Gecko as he released two decoys. He looked at his display. “What the fuck did we do to you?” he muttered as five of the six missiles turned to guide on him. He smiled as one of them attacked the thermal flare that he had released. The missile detonated, and the blast destroyed the flare...and one of the other missiles that were tracking them.
The pilot of Viper 02, Flight Lieutenant Ken ‘MOSA’ Smith, had the throttles of the little ship at maximum and was flying as straight away from the missiles as possible. Any maneuvering only let them catch up with him more quickly and shortened the time that Gecko had to defeat them. He jettisoned the four missiles the ship was carrying to get rid of the unnecessary mass and saw that he was now accelerating at 655 G’s, which was 5 G’s higher than what the fighter was rated for. MOSA hoped that the missiles tracking him would run into the ones that he dumped, but that wish went unanswered. Space was just too big.
“Three missiles still tracking us,” said Gecko with tension in his voice. Even though the fighter was accelerating at over 650 G’s, the missiles were accelerating at over 100,000 G’s, and they were catching up fast. He put the defensive laser on automatic, and it began trying to target the missiles that were rapidly overhauling them. “Break left!” Gecko yelled as he fired out another round of decoys.
MOSA turned the ship hard left and was rewarded with one of the remaining missiles changing its targeting to the decoy. The other two kept coming.
“Fifteen seconds to impact!” cried Gecko as MOSA rolled the craft back level, and the laser began firing again. “Ten seconds!”
“Nine!”
Before Gecko could say “Eight!” the fighter’s laser hit the missile that was closest to them, and the missile exploded. The fighter’s sensors were unable to track the remaining missile, and Gecko momentarily hoped that it had been caught in the explosion.
But it hadn’t, and as the sensors cleared, Gecko saw that it was almost on them. The laser began firing again.
“Three seconds!”
“Two!”
“One!”
“GLUCK AB!” Gecko transmitted as the missile closed on them.
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019
“Viper 02 has been destroyed,” said Steropes as the sensors on Viper 03 detected the 25 megaton nuclear explosion. He had taken over for Arges, who had become very pale at the beginning of hostilities. “I do not think there will be any survivors.”
Viper 03, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019
“We’ve got a missile headed toward us,” said Bullseye, the WSO of Viper 03. He launched a spread of decoys. “Break right!” he called, and Viper 03’s pilot, LT Carl ‘Guns’ Simpson, turned the fighter hard to the right.
The missile neither followed them, nor did it attack the decoys. It continued in the direction that it had originally been heading, away from where the Vella Gulf lay waiting, as it continued to accelerate at over 120,000 G’s. “Where the hell is it going?” asked Guns.
“No freakin’ clue,” replied Bullseye, “but wherever it’s going, it’s getting there fast.” He watched the missile’s trajectory for a second. “Hey Guns,” he said, “let’s go follow it and see where it’s going.”
Guns turned the fighter onto the vector of the outbound missile. After about 30 seconds more, Bullseye was unable to track it any longer as its motor went out. Guns started calculating the amount of fuel that he had left. “Umm...how much longer do you want to follow it? We’re getting kind of low on fuel...”
“Not much further...” he stopped as his sensor registered a gate activating. As fast as the missile was going when it hit the gate, the activation was significant, and Bullseye was easily able to pinpoint the position of the gate. “OK, we’re good,” he continued. “I figured it was headed for a gate, and I wanted to get the position of it. Let’s get back to the ranch before something ugly comes through it.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice!” agreed Guns as he turned the fighter back toward the Vella Gulf.
* * * * *
Ricket (Star Watch Book 2) Page 30