“And what way would that be, your Majesty,” said the Captain, leaning back in her chair. She had thought this would happen. He wouldn’t accept what had to be. But in their current situation they were going to be caught and killed anyway, and the new Emperor of Humanity would be killed with them. Which would allow whatever weak cousin the assassins of the Emperor and the rest of the family wanted to manipulate to be put on the throne.
“I don’t know,” said Sean Ogden Lee Romanov, head down as he looked at the floor. “I just don’t know.” He looked up, tears in his eyes, but the eyes themselves were the piercing orbs of his ancestors. “I do know that I’m tired of people dying for me.”
“It’s something you had better get used to, your Highness,” said the Captain of the battle cruiser, her heart going out to the young man who had never expected this kind of responsibility. “The men and women of the Fleet, the Marines and the Army are under oath to lay down their lives for you. It is up to you and those you appoint to command to make sure that those lives are well spent.”
Sean sat there, nodding his head and saying nothing. Again Mei Lei felt her heart going out to him. He was very young. In some years he would have worked his way up the ranks and gotten a command of his own, probably a Frigate, making him responsible for a little over two hundred people. Then up the command rungs until he got command of a Capital ship, three thousand or more people. Maybe a squadron command, before his birth and lineage offered him (really ordered) another position outside of the military. And if something unfortunate happened in the succession, he might be called upon to become Emperor, with a century of command and diplomatic experience behind him, like his oldest brother nearly had when he died along with the sitting Emperor. Instead it had all come falling down on him. And he hadn’t even been able to assume command of the Empire he in fact commanded. Or to mourn those who had died, family, comrades or others. She would not have wanted to be in his shoes for anything. Right now the command of her battle cruiser was really more than she wanted, but there was no one else to do that job, so it was hers.
“How long do I have to transfer over to the destroyer?” asked the Emperor in a little boy’s voice.
“I think about four hours,” said the Captain, going through her preliminary plan one more time in her head. “We need to set up the situation some. I want to be as sure as can be that we are going to fool them. Otherwise they will just take off after the destroyer and we won’t have accomplished anything.”
A blur moved out of the corner of her eye, and Mei Lei found Satin sitting in her lap, purring deeply. She looked down at the silky fur of the Siamese and felt tears coming to her own eyes. The cat of course didn’t know what was going on, didn’t know what danger they were in. That was for the humans to feel, as they worried about their animal charges.
“He’s such a beautiful cat,” said Sean, looking at the animal sitting in the Captain’s lap. “Reminds me of the cats we had around the palace.”
“You have many of them growing up?” she asked, holding onto the big male possessively.
“Dozens at least,” said the Emperor with a small smile. “Always under foot. Mother loved them. Siamese, Persians, Himalayans, Havana Browns, Bengals. Dozens and dozens of purebred cats. I also liked the cats that lived all over the grounds. Just plain alley cats, but all wonderful in their own right.”
“Yes they are,” said the Captain, hugging the cat close, then lowering him to the floor as he voiced his displeasure. “Sorry, Satin. But momma has things to do.”
“Do you want me to take him with me?” asked Sean in a quiet voice.
Mei Lei had to take a moment to make sure she had heard him right. She looked longingly at the silky cat as he walked away, tail held high in the air in the question mark that meant cats were OK with the world.
“I would like that very much,” she said, reaching over to pat his hand. “Keep him for me until I can return. Or make sure he has a good home if I don’t.”
“The best,” said Sean, grasping her hand. “The palace grounds, where he will never want for anything.”
“He will like it being outside,” she said, sniffling a moment.
“They like it wherever their humans are,” said the Emperor with a nod of his head. “Even if it’s the deepest darkest regions of an asteroid mine. They like being with us.”
“I have preparations to make,” she said with another sniff. “Please excuse me, my Lord.”
“Of course,” said Sean, standing and taking the Captain’s hand. He planted a kiss on the hand as he bowed. “Thank you for all you have done for me. And all you're about to do.”
The Captain could feel herself blushing as she nodded, smiled, and turned away.
About the Author
Doug Dandridge is an ex-professional student with degrees from Florida State University and The University of Alabama, and coursework in Psychology, Biology, Geology, Physics, Chemistry, Anthropology and Nursing. Doug has interest in all of the fantastic, including science fiction, fantasy and horror, as well as all eras of military history. Doug is a prolific writer, having completed 25 novel length manuscripts. He is still seeking a major publishing contract, but has decided that self- publishing is the way to go at this time. His work can be found on Amazon and Smashwords, as well as his own website. Doug lives with his five cats in Tallahassee, Florida, and currently has no social life, as he is too busy writing around his work schedule.
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Books by Doug Dandridge
Science Fiction
The Deep Dark Well Trilogy
The Deep Dark Well: An Adventure 40,000 years in the making. Pandora Latham was a Kuiper Belt Miner from Alabama. She’s used to landing on her feet, even when the next surface is through a wormhole, halfway across the Galaxy and 46,000 years in the Future. Pandora must discover the secret behind the end of civilization, and the enigma of the Immortal Watcher, the last survivor of the Empire that once ruled the stars. Her decisions will set the path for Galactic recovery, or a continuation down the roads of Barbarism.
To Well and Back: Pandora Latham is back, working Watcher’s plan to restore Galactic Civilization. But first she has to deal with the Xenophobes of the Nation of Humanity, back in the Supersystem with their sights set on making the Galaxy their own. Pandora is angry at the hyper religious Nation, and you don’t want to make a woman from Alabama angry.
The Exodus Series
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 1: The introduction to the Exodus Universe. Two thousand years prior mankind fled from the Predatory Ca’cadasans, traveling a thousand years and ten thousand light years to a new home. Now the greatest power of their sector of space, things seem to be going well for the New Terran Empire. Until the enemy appears once again at the gates. And the years have not softened the aliens’ stance toward Humanity.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 2: The saga continues. The Ca’cadasans attack at the moment when the government of the Empire is at its most chaotic. There are other enemies as well, waiting for their chance to fall on the overwhelmed humans. And a young man with no ambition for power finds himself in the position he most drea
ds.
Other Scifi
Diamonds in the Sand: When a perfectly healthy scientist falls dead of an apparent heart attack, it is up to Sarasota Police Detective Lieutenant Gary Lariviere to find out what really happened. The scientist was working on Nanotechnology, a secret desired by everyone from the Government to the Mob. There are too many suspects, including the woman that Gary comes to love. The Army had made Gary better than human, but had they prepared him for the terrors that had been unleashed by the new technology?
The Scorpion: The Scorpion had been the world’s deadliest living terrorist. Kestral McMann had been in on the kill. Now The Scorpion is back as a mind upload, using clones to penetrate the tight security of an isolationist United States. McMann is the only man who can stop him. But can McMann survive the threat of his own side, and the insane President who leads the Nation, in time to stop The Scorpion from plunging the Great Satan back into the Stone Age.
The Shadows of the Multiverse: Something has been periodically wiping intelligence from our Universe through the ages. It’s back, and it’s up to three unlikely heroes, the Captain of a Battle Cruiser, a Physicist turned Archeologist, and a Child, to save the intelligence of the Universe from Monsters from another Dimension. Can they learn to use the powers of their unusual Quantum Minds to defeat creatures that have been playing the game for billions of years?
Afterlife: What if you didn’t believe in the afterlife of the World’s Religions? And what if science offered you the alternative, survival within the Virtual World of a computer, where your mental abilities are magnified and you can do anything you want? And what if the World decided that your way was wrong, and declared war on you, meaning to destroy your reality? What would you do? Afterlife, a tale of survival at all costs.
Fantasy
The Refuge Series
Refuge: The Arrival: Book 1: A nuclear war in Central Europe opens the gates between dimensions, sending millions of Earth Humans into a land of myth, archetypes and fantasy. The Evil Emperor of the Ellala Elves sees the humans as energy to fuel his transformation to immortality. But the humans have brought their own weapons with them, as well as a race of Demigods who will battle the fantastic armies of Refuge. The war is on, and only one side will ultimately survive.
Refuge: The Arrival: Book 2: The Ellala have a plan to destroy the human military and capture the civilians. And the humans find that their weapons will soon cease to function. So it’s use it or lose it for the Earth Humans, and they use it with a vengeance. Tanks against Mages, Attack Helicopters against Dragons, and Nuclear Weapons against Death Gods. And the other peoples of the planet come forth as allies to the humans that they see as the fulfillment an Ancient Prophecy. But will it be enough?
Refuge: Doppelganger: Set thousands of years after the arrival, Kurt von Mannerheim, the Immortal Emperor of the Imperium of Free Nations, must give up everything to save his Empress, the Elfin Princess Gwenara Elysius von Mannerheim. The world is at a crisis point as the Evil Tarakesh Empire, under its Immortal Emperor Heinrich Stuppleheim, prepares to overrun the world with its Nazi Ideology. And Kurt must face a creature of legend that may prove too much for even his physical and mental abilities.
Other Fantasy
The Hunger: Abused wife, drug addict, prostitute; Lucinda Taylor had been victimized by men all her adult life. Left for dead by her pimp, Lucinda was turned by a passing vampire. When he is destroyed she becomes a free agent, slaking her hunger for blood on the bottom dwellers of society, the type of men who once victimized her. The crime boss of Tampa is her next target, and the City by the Bay is about to become a bloodbath. But can Lucinda avoid those who are hunting for her; the Priest, the FBI man, and a pair of Vampires who would like nothing better than to send one Avenging Vampire forever into the dark?
Daemon: A Steampunk Fantasy. The world is dying, the victim of the magic used by society for the last three hundred years. Daemon Corporation thinks they have the answer, stealing the life from other worlds, bringing from other dimensions the intelligences that inhabit them for sacrifice on Earth. But something has come with them, a force that is killing the employees of Daemon Corp. It is up to Forensic Mage Detective Jude Parkinson to find a way to stop the unstoppable, while keeping the head of Daemon Corp from silencing him to keep the dark secrets of the company out of the public eye.
Aura: Triplets are born on a world where the magical Aura decides the fate of its owner. Ariel is a girl with more than double the normal Aura, destined to become a mighty Priest or Mage. Aiden has a less than normal Aura, and is destined to be a soldier or laborer. While Arlen has no Aura at all, and is seen as an abomination in the eyes of the Church of Baalra the Dragon God, which has no power over those with Negative Auras. Fate will rip the siblings apart, then bring them back together as they battle to defeat the Dragon God and leave the Evil Empire, before Ariel is taken as the Avatar of Baalra, his mortal vessel on Earth.
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Excerpt from The Deep Dark Well
Two huge shapes pulled away from the squadron, heading toward the Donut at one gee acceleration. Vengeance watched them through the wormhole viewer he had opened. Real time viewing through the small aperture, only the edge distorted by the gravitational lensing.
“Damn,” he cursed. He had hoped that all of them would have come forward into his trap. He wouldn’t have destroyed them all, only a quarter of them. The others he would have allowed to run back to the safety of the perimeter, to quiver in their suits at the close call they had escaped, not knowing he could destroy them all. But only when they had gotten within two billion kilometers, the optimal range of the graviton beam for the purpose he proposed.
Vengeance could pull them into range, using the attractive power of the beam, but he could only pull four at a time, as that was all the large projectors he had powered up and in alignment at this time. The rest would back out of range of the attractor beam, gaining enough velocity to escape.
So he would wait. Wait for the ships to come closer, and possibly the others to follow.
* * *
Admiral Miklas Gerasi kept a close watch on the two warships he had sent ahead. They were on the center of the tactical display. Screens throughout the bridge were linked into the views sent back by the ships. Data constantly streamed back to the flagship’s computers. Communications personnel were in constant touch with all departments of the scouting ships.
They should be able to take care of themselves. All of the ships of the squadron were of the same design. The only difference between the flag and the rest were the extra communications and computer resources needed to command a complete squadron. As far as he knew his squadron was as powerful as the combined fleets of all the powers within the system.
They should be able to take care of themselves. And if he were sure of that he wouldn’t have sent them ahead as scouts. He didn’t know what defenses the station contained. Possibly none. Possibly enough to defeat the combined resources of the Nation of Humanity and all of its enemies.
“Range, ten million kilometers and increasing,” said the navigation officer. He had been ordered to give their location every million kilometers inwards, even though the displays showed the numbers.
Already thirty-three light seconds inbound. Thirty three seconds before they would know if anything happened to the two ships. Over a minute for a round trip transmission between the scouts and the rest of the squadron.
Gerasi felt the sweat bead on his forehead. He knew the bridge was kept at a very comfortable temperature. But he hated being out of immediate contact with members of his command. When he had been a ship’s captain he hadn’t that worry. All of his command was always a nanosecond away. As commodore there had been some concern, but normally his division of two or three
capital ships had stuck together. But as admiral, he had to detach units to beyond the reach of his command all the time. It was just that this situation was different from patrolling the reaches of the Nation, where you could always get support within a couple of hours at most. Here there was no support. His task force was it.
He chuckled to himself as a thought crossed his mind. When he was a captain he relished the idea of being out of the range of his squadron commander. Even as a commodore he was still the king only when his division was separated from the rest of the fleet. Commodore Elishas must be worried about moving out of support range of the squadron, but still fired up about being on her own.
“Sir,” interrupted the science officer. “Gravimetric sensors show several anomalies ahead.”
“What kind of anomalies?”
“Unknown. But some kind of severe fluctuations in the gravity field of space.”
“A point source of mass?” asked the captain. “Or the artificial gravity of a ship?”
“Could be a point source,” agreed the science officer. “Neutronium or such. It would have to be a monster of a ship to give those kind of readings.”
“Nav sensors show nothing besides our ships,” said the navigation officer.
“Transmit data to Commodore Elishas,” ordered the admiral. “Keep a tight analysis on those fluctuations.”
Just another thing to worry about. It probably meant nothing. After all, the space around a black hole was supposed to be alive with bizarre phenomenon. But it didn’t feel right.
* * *
The huge cylinder rotated into place. The wormhole com link made the distance between it and its control center meaningless. The wormhole sensor link made the distance between it and its target meaningless. The unit powered up, energy flowing along the millions of kilometers of power cables within the cylinder. Gathering at the conversion chambers. Power spiked to maximum, as the beam of gravitons, the messenger particles of gravity, streamed through the expanding wormhole sensor link. Target, the Nation of Humanity battle cruiser Dolphin.
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