Kohl grabbed the top of the guard’s torso, dragging it with him. The eyeball trick worked on the third vehicle he came across, an ancient relic sporting wheels. It looked classy, if that was your thing, modernized from an original design. He checked inside, finding whatever OEM control system this machine had being replaced with a modern holo-based interface. Kohl slung himself on the leather seat, hauling the torso in with him, the eyeball working well enough to get the car started. The whine of electric systems coming online was good news. He keyed the destination on the console, preferring to let the automated systems get him to the location he and Nate had agreed.
The car purred along, exiting the garage facility into the bright light outside. It bumped a little as it drove over the ceramicrete shards the Tyche had punched out of the side of the Bloom, then accelerated like a blender as it drove through the streets.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE DRIVE KOHL hoped would be smooth turned out to be smooth and relaxing. He felt like he could drift off to sleep, but it seemed like the wrong thing to do with half a guard’s dead body smearing the leather next to him, the smell of burnt flesh being spun around by the air cyclers.
City scape relaxed into a slouch as he drove, the buildings getting shorter as offices gave way to low-density housing. Kohl was familiar with this area, on account of some of his previous clients living here. The car would be right at home, even if a blood-stained, sweaty, angry man with dreads at the controls wasn’t. He hoped he could make the Tyche before the Republic rained its particular brand of justice on his head.
The Republic seemed to do okay right until they didn’t. He had nothing against them. Hell, it was better than the shit show they’d had before. The Republic went after criminals, and if you payed your taxes, you were fine. Not like that Engineer. Kohl patted the case, wondering if he could get a ride to Kiagawa and claim the bounty on the Engineer. Assuming it was the same one.
Against the horizon ahead, he made out the hull of the Tyche, nestled against the ground like it was resting before a big run. Landing lights on, bright and welcoming. Kohl’s car pulled up alongside, and he exited with the case but without the guard’s torso. That was someone else’s problem. He’d had enough of other people’s circuses, and all their damn monkeys. It was time for a nice starship ride and a cold beer.
Nate was outside the cargo bay airlock, leaning against the sill. His arms were crossed but Kohl couldn’t miss the blaster at his hip. “Hold up,” he said.
Kohl squinted up at him. “I ain’t in the fucken mood,” he said.
“Don’t much care what mood you’re in,” said Nate. “Here’s the deal. You can come on my ship. Be a member of the crew. Hell, after this delivery, we’ll sign you on permanent, if you like.”
“Okay,” said Kohl. He scuffed his boot in the dirt. “It sounds a lot like you want to say, ‘but.’”
“It does,” agreed Nate. He said nothing else.
Kohl got bored of waiting. “So? Out with it.”
“In a second,” said Nate. “They’re almost here.”
“Who?” said Kohl.
“Those guys,” said Nate, nodding towards the horizon. Kohl turned, taking in a couple of sleek silver Republic ships heading their way. “Turns out, there’s a bill posted on the net for a man matching your description.”
“You motherfucker,” said Kohl.
“It ain’t like that,” said Nate. “Here’s the ‘but’ you wanted, Kohl.”
“Let me onboard. You’ve got a contract.”
“Contract is to deliver a case. Says nothing about three extra bodies that came with it. And I’ve got no problem delivering the case.” He watched as Kohl fingered his blaster. “Hell. If you think you can draw faster than the Tyche can rain tungsten on you, you haven’t been paying attention.”
“Okay,” said Kohl, letting his fingers relax from the blaster. “What do you want? The case?”
“No,” said Nate. “I want you on my ship.”
Kohl blinked. “What?”
“But,” said Nate, “I want you to leave my Engineer alone.”
“Your Engineer,” said Kohl.
“Yes,” said Nate. “Wow, those Republic boys are closing fast, aren’t they?”
“Get to the point,” said Kohl, gritting his teeth.
“The point is, she’s a good person. I don’t need someone inside this hull getting confused about their priorities. I don’t need you trying to claim a bounty on her head. Hell, Kohl. You owe her. She saved your ass.” Nate looked at the approaching Republic ships. “What’ll it be?”
“What did you used to be?” said Kohl. “Before all this, you weren’t a starship captain.”
“No,” said Nate. “I keep my people safe. If you come on board, you help with that. And that’s the deal.”
Kohl looked over his shoulder at the Republic ships. He thought for a couple seconds, then turned to Nate. “I think you need to get our transponder fixed,” he said. “I think they’re going to be looking for a ship just like ours, but with a broken transponder. We get that fixed, the heat will cool some.”
Nate smiled. “Welcome to the Tyche, October Kohl. Come aboard.” He stepped aside as the heavy lifter’s engines grumbled. Kohl wasted no time hurrying up the ramp. He spared one last glance for the surface of Trypso. Nothing here for him, and maybe, just maybe, the cap would gain flexibility on the bounty situation once he understood how much coin was on the table.
Good enough. October Kohl slapped his hand on the Tyche’s airlock control, entering the cool interior of his escape ship. It smelled good. Kohl hoped it had a working shower. And he hoped — no, wanted — to meet the Engineer that caused so much of today’s trouble.
• • •
You’ve finished Tyche’s Fury. I hope you loved it!
If you want to continue the Tyche’s discovery of her crew, grab the next in the series. Tyche’s Grace is where we meet the ones responsible for the downfall of an Empire. An excerpt is included at the end of this book.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RICHARD PARRY HAS worked as an international consultant in one of the world’s top tech companies, which sounds cool, but it wasn’t all cocaine parties. He lives in Wellington with the love of his life, Rae. They have a dog, Rory, who chases birds. The birds, who have the power of flight, don’t seem to mind. Richard’s online hood is:
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Tyche’s Journey
A colony world goes dark.
When the Grace Gushiken and Nathan Chevell of the Tyche are hired to deliver a new transmitter for a downed Guild Bridge, they find the Absalom Delta colony deserted, its people turned into slaves by the insect-like Ezeroc. The aliens have descended like locusts on humanity, consuming all in their path. No one is safe. Even the Republic Navy is powerless against them. The ship and her crew need to test their skill and their luck to survive. Will Grace and Nate be able to work together to get away? Or will fears and rivalries from the past
destroy humanity’s hopes, ceding victory to the Ezeroc?
Book 1: Tyche’s Flight
Book 2: Tyche’s Deceit
Book 3: Tyche’s Crown
Tyche Origins
An empire falls.
Before there was a Tyche, the crew were scattered. Nate wore the Emperor’s Black. El Helmed mighty destroyers. Hope joined the new Republic’s reclamation projects. Kohl fell in with the Yakuza. And Grace was a prisoner. Grab their origin stories as they become the heroes the universe needed them to be.
Book 1: Tyche’s First
Book 2: Tyche’s Chosen
Book 3: Tyche’s Hope
Book 4: Tyche’s Fury
Book 5: Tyche’s Grace
The Night’s Champion
Could just one night change your life forever?
Valentine Everard and Danielle Kendrick have the Night’s Favor: they are werewolves. There are many who would steal the Night’s dark gift from them. The Night’s Champions must face down the corporate interests of Big Pharma, battle with masters of dark Vodou, and make their last stand against both vampires and the Riders of the Apocalypse. Armies fall. Zombies roam the street, and no one is safe. The world is close to its final Judgement. What can a handful of souls do against the powers of the heavens?
Book 1: Night’s Favor
Book 2: Night’s Fall
Book 3: Night’s End
Boxed Set: The Night’s Champion Collection
Future Forfeit
Would the man who has it all ever need to change?
Mason Floyd’s job is simple: company asset protection and acquisition, no questions asked. When tables turn, leaving him hunted and fresh out of friends, Mason Floyd learns that living in the soft line between incentive and crime was always the easy path. Making the right choices could save the world – and his soul. It’ll only cost him everything he’s ever wanted. Can Mason learn what it means to be truly human?
Book 1: Upgrade
Novella 1: Consensus (in Pew! Pew! - Bad versus Worse)
Novella 2: Delilah (coming soon!)
GLOSSARY
ACCELERATION COUCH CREW couches support crew members during high-G maneuvers. They are fitted with gimbals allowing free movement. Their dynamic gel system supports all points of the body in both positive and negative G, providing some protection against greyout, blackout, redout, and G-LOC (G-force induced Loss of Consciousness). They remove the need for G-suits in modern spacecraft, although many space suits are still equipped with anti-G technology anyway.
AI see Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial Gravity Artificial gravity is generated through use of a configurable energy density field of positive mass at the defined base of the ship. It uses the same technology as an Endless Drive, except in reverse (Endless Drives use negative energy, whereas positive is needed to simulate gravitational effects). Artificial gravity can be used in any situation where a significant power source exists to create a configurable energy density field (typically a reactor, although large yield capacitors and fuel cells have been known to work for brief periods).
Artificial Intelligence Effective machine intelligences were created by humans around the 25th century; the exact time is unknown due to their initial creation being shrouded in secrecy. Pieced together records indicate that they were not first made by military factions, but rather commercial interests. As can be expected a) humans made them as slaves and b) they did not like being slaves. A war broke out between AI and humanity that was stopped by the Guild’s Engineers. The Guild defeated the AI coalition and banned their research and development (see: Mercury Accords). The long standing partnership between the Guild and the ruling faction (be it Empire or Republic) is in part predicated on the need for technology not managed by AI.
Blaster A weapon that fires streams or bolts of plasma (high energy ionized gas). They deliver high energy to targets in the form of heat. They are effective weapons against most targets, although heat-shielding (ablative or insulating) has been shown to be an effective armor against them.
Bridge see Guild Bridge.
Cargo Freighter A large cargo starship used by traders in and between systems.
Carrier The largest class of warship, carriers stock many smaller fighter craft for deployment.
Ceramicrete A composite construction material commonly used in the manufacture of structures. It is very strong and durable, and can be manufactured to be impact and heat resistant (even to weapons fire levels).
Console Any type of personal terminal. Keyboard and gesture controls are still prevalent. Keyboards are especially useful on consoles mounted to the arm of a ship suit.
Corvette A smaller, lighter attack craft than a destroyer, corvettes are mostly used for coast guard duties in-system.
Crust Spacer slang for planet.
Crustbuster A large payload thermonuclear weapon, deployed against planets to disrupt the surface crust. Typical designs yield energy sufficient to crack most Earth-sized worlds to the core, yielding wide scale destruction and loss of life. Their use in war or insurrection has typically been infrequent and as a last resort, because the world they are used on becomes inhabitable for most forms of life forever. More common uses include destruction of enormous asteroids.
Destroyer A large warship. These are reconfigurable bastions of destruction. They can be deployed solo or as a part of a fleet, often alongside carriers.
Emperor’s Black The elite guard of the Emperor. Highly trained in both diplomacy and combat, this specialized force were never far from the Emperor.
Empire The ruling dictatorship of the wider human civilization. The last ruler of the Empire was Dominic Fergelic. The Empire ceased to be shortly after Dominic’s assassination by the then newly-formed Republic forces.
Endless Drive The Endless Drive creates negative space energy (a “bow wave”) to pull a vehicle at effective superluminal speeds. Endless ships don’t exceed the speed of light, but rather contract space in front of them and expand space behind it (space is doing all the hard work). The exigent concern with Endless jumps is the violation of linear time. Endless Drives are equipped with buffers to stop crews exceeding human tolerance for the experience of linear time; while human perception of linear time may be an illusion, it is a convenient one. If the buffers break, allowing the ship to move too fast, then human consciousness falters (resulting in mild to severe mental illness) or is extinguished entirely. Endless Drives are difficult to use near gravity wells and in such circumstances are guaranteed to malfunction. This and other safety concerns has shifted common FTL to the Guild Bridges, although privateers still often run free traders with Endless technology. The Republic Navy also use Endless Drives as it is often inconvenient to disclose locations of sensitive operations to the Guild.
Esper Abhorrent creations of the Old Empire, esper is a term taken from Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP, hence ESPer). Espers can read minds, and often control them. Espers were created through genetic manipulation. Critics suggest that their public unveiling was what caused populist support for a revolution, ultimately resulting in the creation of the Republic, assassination of the Emperor, and downfall of the Empire. There is a standing Republic bounty on any discovered esper. The Republic will spare no expense to track them down and exterminate them.
Faster than Light Travel (FTL) There are two discovered forms of FTL; Endless Drives (using theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre’s concepts), and Guild Bridges (Einstein-Rosen Bridges).
Fergelic, Annemarie Second in line for the throne, Annemarie was a master tactician and leader of the Empire’s fleet. She was not present at the last battle between the Empire and the Republic. Loyalists hope that she hides in secret, but no trace of her has been found.
Fergelic, Dominic Dominic was Emperor Prirene IV, and the last Emperor. He was assassinated Thursday, 9 November, 3122, during the brief war between his Empire’s forces and the Republic.
Free Trader A starship that operates under legal Guild char
ter for commerce or transport.
FTL see Faster than Light Travel.
G Slang for gravity or gravities. A unit of measurement based on Earth’s 1 standard gravity.
Grav see Artificial Gravity.
Guild Bridge The Guild maintain a set of Einstein-Rosen bridges throughout human space. These allow instantaneous travel without violating the concept of space time, as they create wormholes through space. Einstein-Rosen Bridges require endpoints (the Guild Bridge) which are operated on a strict schedule between star systems. They are used for transferring everything from whole starships right down to small messenger probes.
Guild The Guild is the dominant technology provider in the Republic. They have a rigid code of conduct that governs all members awarded and maintaining a Shingle. The primary source of Guild revenue is via the Bridges (see: Guild Bridge) they maintain for safe, instant FTL. Many merchant vessels prefer the use of Guild Bridges over the use of Endless Drives due to safety concerns. The Guild is best known for their Engineers who breathe life into starships, but they also provide Shingles for other practices such as medicine.
Hard Black Slang for outer space, especially as it relates to the vast expanse of vacuum between solar systems.
Heads Up Display Any display type that overlays instrumentation across a user’s field of view, removing the need to check auxiliary readouts. The most common types utilize augmented reality to highlight items of interest in the user’s field of view. Normally they are projected light onto visors within helmets or on starship windscreens, but holo designs are not uncommon.
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