by Andrew Beery
“I lost everybody that ever meant anything to me on Mars. I lost them because there were not enough shuttles or time to get them off the surface. I lost them so the likes of you could escape… So yeah, son… I’d like to say I lost them for a reason. I’d like to say your life has some worth. Up until today I had my doubts. Today is the first day in eight years I’ve seen you care about something beyond yourself.”
He pointed to my shoulder. “I’ve have medical take care of that. When you and I first met I have you a card… did you keep it?”
“Card?”
“Yes, I gave you a card and I said ‘If anything happens and you need someone to watch your six; you give that number a call and tell them that Gunny Grimes sent you’”
-End of Preview-
Other Books
The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles
(By Andrew Beery)
Inception, #1 – 2012
Redemption, #2 – 2013
Exploration, #3 – 2013
Retribution, #4 – 2014
Liberation, #5 – 2014
Insurrection, #6 – 2015
Renegades, #7 -2016
Replicant, #8 – 2016
Rebirth, #9 – 2016*
The Infinity Brigade
(By Andrew Beery)
Stone Cold, #1 – 2016*
Harry Bedmore: Intergalactic Rogue
(By Andrew Beery)
Roguish Charm, #1 – 2016*
The Ways of Mages
(By Andrew Beery, Catherine Beery)
The Ways of Mages, #1 – Revised July 2012
The Ways of Mages: Two Worlds, #2 – Aug 2012
The Ways of Mages: Starfire, #3 January 2013
The Ways of Mages: Three Swords, #4 – 2013
The Ways of Mages: Reunited, #5 - 2015
Defender of the Empire
(By Catherine Beery)
Book 1: Cadet – 2014
Book 2: Facades - 2014
Book 3: Chaos - 2015
Book 4: Temple of War – 2016*
The Ca'leya Chronicles
(By Catherine Beery)
The Witness – 2016
The Testimony - 2016
The Lampstand – 2016*
Empire Saga
(By Lori Beery)
Book 1: The Fight for the Paradise - 2016
Book 2: The Arrival - 2016*
* Coming Soon
—Story Notes—
As The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles have grown over the years, the universe it encompasses has grown with it. Several readers have asked that I start to include some type of story notes so that they can remind themselves about “what ship did that” or “what captain did this” etc. These notes were written primarily for me but they represent an attempt to be responsive to those readers who are looking for something like this. As time goes by I will attempt to refine and flesh out some of these notes… not just for you the reader but also for me! Again, thank you for your continued support… Be well “Blessed of the Creator!”
D'lralu (del ra Lu)
Six legged creatures that resemble dogs. Intelligent, seemingly bent on destroying any intelligent life they chance upon. Their technology is impressive in that they have powerful energy generation systems but they utilize inferior computers and artificial intelligence platforms. They are lead by a pack system headed by an elected official called the First of the First...
ESX Arizona
An experimental VASMR space craft piloted by Catherine Kimbridge.
Catherine Kimbridge
A human female who has been rebuilt after a heroic death by a powerful race known as the Heshe. Her body is filled with regenerative nanites that repair tissue damage and can reengineer her on the fly to withstand incredible stresses. Cat, as she is called by her friends, is the title character. The series explores her rise through the ranks as she helps to shape the Galactic Coalition of Planets as a force for good.
Admiral "Bud" Faragon
Head of admiralty board. USC Yorktown was his flagship. He is now the head of the Infinity Brigade based out of Marine City on the massive WhimPy-101 battlestation.
Rigel Kentaurus
A ternary star system roughly four light-years from Sol
Ricky Valen/Harry Bedmore
A major character who is briefly introduced in book one with the line… "Mars II, this is Prospector 49. Request permission to dock at first available gate. Over" "49, you are cleared for gate 3. Do you have any cargo to declare?" The rebuilt Catherine Kimbridge is indeed that cargo.
Deimos Base
Mars II, a lunar base that survives the D’lralu attack
Yarin
A Heshe who Cat sacrifices her life to save.
Heshe
Aliens that look to be some type of land-based cephalopod with eight ridged legs and matching eyestalks. The legs appeared capable of working both for locomotion and manipulation. Communicate by changing the color of patches of their skin much like squid on Earth.
USC
United Space Command, replaced by Galactic Coalition of Planets
Dr. Ken Kirkland
Chief engineer on the Bowman... And chaplain, later First Officer of the Yorktown… Later captain of the Yorktown. Wife: Rebecca Ann civilian cook, later Lt. on the Bowman as an environmental officer… then Yorktown
USC Bowman
Humanities first interstellar ship. The Bowman was primarily a ship of exploration but given the massive amount of armament and shielding on the recovered D'lralu vessel the powers-that-be decided that Earth's first starships should have defensive systems built in.
In addition to reactive hull plating, the Bowman was able to generate a displacement field around itself that, in theory at least, should shunt energy weapons around the vessel. The inertial dampeners could be configured to transfer momentum from a colliding mass to the entire ship. This meant the impact energy required to 'hole' the ship would need to be enough to crush the entire ship at once.
The Bowman was, also, outfitted with a single center mounted rail gun and four chemical torpedo launchers. The torpedoes included low-yield nuclear payloads and small quantum fold generators. Unfortunately, the hyper drive engines in the torpedoes were of limited use because the firing solutions still took too long to calculate for the torpedoes to be effectively used in a light speed engagement. Likely, the next generation of missiles would have this capability removed until it could be perfected.
Dr. Riley
Irish medical doctor on Bowman with a German accent.
Lunar One
Primary lunar base and city
Orbital One
Primary Earth orbiting base… destroyed and rebuilt several times
Lt. Jim Cortez
Communications officer about the Bowman
Lt. Kelley Shelby
A petite blond woman with a southern accent was at navigation on Bowman. Killed
Commander Jason Ruck
First officer, an African American... Promoted to captain of Avenger. Future love interest for Catherine Kimbridge. Becomes Commodore of the GCP Mador
Commander Marlena Nash
First Officer of the GCP Mador
Ensign Topen
Sensor Officer aboard the GCP Mador
Lt. Commander Andrew Martinescu
Weapons control Officer on Bowman. Became Weapons control Officer aboard the Yorktown.
Gets promoted to Commander Andrew Martinescu (CAM) – CAG he has photographic memory
Becomes First Officer of the Yorktown.
Ganymede station
Research Station
Lieutenant Commander Sherry Melbourne
Admiral Faragon's administrative officer on the USC Yorktown
Becomes an Admiral in her own right. Forms Melbourne’s maniacs. She retires while Cat is back in the past.
The First of the First
Title given to the current leader of the D’lralu
Chief Engineer Commander Thais Figarero
Brazilian Chief Engineer of the USC/GCP Yorktown
Ensign Davis
Red Shirt – I think.
Lal'quint
D'lralu mother tongue
Admirals
Admirals Pike, Chu, Forrest, Faragon, McMullen, Cartwright, and Chelsea
Mirdan
A D’lralu First Officer. He was the Third of the Seventh.
Giblinanner
Hopper (Hupenstanii) called Gibby. Doctorate in Human studies
Hupenstanii
Hoppers… Gibby, Trifa, Triska’nar, Elder Trifano
Galactic Coalition of Planets
GCP
Chief Wroblewski
Weapons officer on USC/GCP Yorktown
Lt Zimmerman
Ziggy... Communications officer on Yorktown
Gliese 581g - similar to earth - Ashkelon homeworld.
20 light years away... 0.92 on Earth similarity index roughly 1.7 g surface gravity. Centered in goldilocks zone.
Yakin and Yurka
Heshe explorers visiting Uruk system with Yarin
GCP Yorktown
Flagship
Captain Lastila
Captain of the Silver Fledgling representing the Ashkelon Space Exploration Corps
Sassi
Ashkelon (bird-like moth) communications officer aboard Silver Fledgling. He served aboard the Yorktown. He is a computer expert. Promoted to Lieutenant and goes to Marine City.
Rasta-Tckner
A member of the hive race called Hymenopterans. First to come in contact with humans.
Captain Jeffries
Captain of starship Heidman.
Kepler-47b
Kepler-47b had an orbit within the goldilocks zone where liquid water could theoretically exist. The planet's radius was 4.6 times that of Earth, roughly the size of Uranus, complete with well-formed rings. Its orbital period around the binary stars was 303 days.
Hymenopterans
Hive race that communicate via pheromones, organic radio, and cybernetic quantum links. Native to Kepler-47, unit of distance = ferel (use like mile).
Ensign Pete Sanders
Naval Space Academy, Notre Dame, advanced degree in Systems Integration, Heidman survivor
Pointers
Pointers were a slang term for plasma guided electric pulse Tasers. The idea was a simple one. An ultra-short but high powered and precisely tuned laser creates a plasma pipe in the air through which it travels. A high voltage pulse uses the ionized air to conduct its charge to the desired target. A low power visible laser is combined with the system for targeting and was responsible for the name.
Rudy McQuin
The First Officer, an Irishman, of the Heidman.
Hilde-tuk
KayBee asteroid pilot who disabled his quantum node
Modos Syndicate of Thieves
Interested in expanding operations in virgin territory.
Running-Stream, aquatic member of Reef-Hugger school; a scout. Misc: ink, tentacles
Cricket, Jiminy, and a young queen named Madam Roach
KayBee children rescued from a crashed floating city by Captain Jefferies.
GCP Mador
A Yorktown Class vessel under the command of Captain Jason Ruck after the death William Hawking Roberts.
Black Hole: Fast Spin, NGC 1365
The enormous black hole at the center of the spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is spinning about 84 percent C... NGC 1365, located about 56 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Fornax, does indeed harbor a gigantic black hole — one as massive as several million suns
New Mathematical Model for the spiral motion of matter falling into a black hole
physicist Nikodem Poplawski presents new mathematical models of the spiraling motion of matter falling into a black hole. His equations suggest such wormholes are viable alternatives to the "space-time singularities" that Albert Einstein predicted to be at the centers of black holes. According to a mind-bending new theory, a black hole is actually a tunnel between universes—a type of wormhole. The matter the black hole attracts doesn't collapse into a single point, as has been predicted, but rather gushes out a "white hole" at the other end of the black one, the theory goes.
Black hole- Supermassive, Radio source: Sagittarius A
From Wikipedia: Sagittarius A (or Sgr A) is a complex radio source at the center of the Milky Way. It is located in the Sagittarius constellation, and is hidden from view at optical wavelengths by large clouds of cosmic dust in the spiral arms of the Milky Way. It consists of three components, the supernova remnant Sagittarius A East, the spiral structure Sagittarius A West, and a very bright compact radio source at the center of the spiral, Sagittarius A*. These three overlap: Sagittarius A East is the largest, West appears off-center within East, and A* is at the center of West.
Wakefield plasma accelerator
Basic concept... accelerate an electron bunch to relativistic velocity and send into a stationary plasma. The resulting wake has a charge imbalance that causes it to fall in behind the electron bunch. Energy from the head is transferred to the back... 1000 fold increase in acceleration potential over a linear accelerator.
Electroactive polymer muscles
In the early 21st century, Earth time, the University of Auckland figured out a way to let artificial muscles play a more active role in movement management. They developed a muscle that used a set of electroactive polymers to push memory elements into place and squeeze piezoresistive switches, performing virtually any calculation through flexing. The result was a more natural response at the simulated tissue level interactions.
Majorana fermions Stable matter-antimatter
1937, Italian physicist Ettore Majorana proposed a hypothetical particle that is its own antiparticle. Both would have zero charge and the two could coexist without annihilation.
Quantum vacuum plasma thruster (QVPT)
The device looks like a large red velvet doughnut with wires tightly wound around a core. It uses quantum fluctuations in empty space as a fuel source, so that a spaceship propelled by a QVPT would not require propellant.
Memory Epicatechin
A flavonoid found in cocoa beans could mean the difference between remembering and forgetting, according to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Scientists from the Hotchkiss Brain Institute in Calgary linked the flavonoid (-)-epicatechin (or epi for short) to the formation of long-term memory.
Ensign Kaskad
Modos Sensor Officer aboard the Bluefin
Skif
Modos Weapons Officer aboard the Bluefin
Suhtii
The race the Modos use as hosts. They are, also, called 'Bearephants'
He-who-speaks
Running Stream's host. A Suhtii. His spouse is called ‘she-who-pours.
GCP Esperance
Pinnace class shuttle piloted by Commander Ken Kirkland
Three Planets in Habitable Zone of Nearby Star -- Gliese 667c.
Gliese 667 (142 G. Scorpii) is a triple-star system in the constellation of Scorpius, none of which have masses greater than the Sun. The star system lies at a distance of about 6.8 pc (22.1 ly) from Earth. These planets orbit the third fainter star of a triple star system. About 1/3 size of Sol. Viewed from one of these newly found planets the two other suns would look like a pair of very bright stars visible in the daytime and at night they would provide as much illumination as the full Moon. The new planets completely fill up the habitable zone of Gliese 667C, as there are no more stable orbits in which a planet could exist at the right distance to it.
Orbital Angular Momentum
Optical vortices (also known as orbital angular momentum, or OAM, beams).
The technology centers on donut-shaped laser light beams called optical vortices, in which the light twists like a tornado as it moves along the beam path, rather than in a straight line.
Traditionally, bandwidth has been enhanced by increasing the number of colors, or wavelengths of
data-carrying laser signals - essentially streams of 1s and 0s - sent down an optical fiber, where the signals are processed according to color. Often referred to as Dense Wave Multiplexing (DWM)
OAM is an emerging strategy to boost bandwidth by sending the light through a fiber along distinctive paths, or modes, each carrying a cache of data from one end of the fiber to the other. OAM can be combined with DWM. 2016 saw 1.6 terabits/sec speeds in the lab.
GCP Broadchurch
Enhanced Bowman-Class frigate under the command of Captain Dorset.
Farnin the Elder
Suhtian (Suhtii) leader
Astatine (AT)
Rarest element - maybe an ounce on Earth. It is an element with 85 protons packed into its nucleus, thus the atomic number "85". This element has a half-life of roughly 8 hours, meaning if you could get a clump of it to stay on a table (you can't), half of it would disintegrate in 8 hours, and then every 8 hours another half would go until in a few days, there'd be no astatine on the table.
Just below Iodine in periodic table so in many ways acts like it... example...absorbed by Thyroid
"Superman 5D memory crystal"
"monolithic glass space-variant polarization converters," stores data in five dimensions...which include the usual three, plus axis orientation and "birefringence" -- a quality of refracted light. A one inch glass "disc" has a potential capacity of 360 TB, can withstand temperatures of 1,000 degrees Centigrade, and, unlike magnetic or flash media, won't deteriorate with age.