“You still think it’s a good idea to leave them alone up there?” asked Admiral Krishnamurta, looking up at the taller woman.
She smiled down at the Admiral, who was a bigger man in his battle armor. Of course, she was also wearing armor proportionate to her size. “I don’t think they’ll be doing anything with those ships other than eating and breathing,” she replied. “And we only have a hundred and fifty-three armored bodies as it is, until we get some suits for the Maurid volunteers. And more of your people here.”
“We could always kill them,” said the Admiral, who then winced at her glare. “I know. You will not countenance murder, even after what they did to you. You are a better human than I am, Pandora Latham.”
“I don’t know about that, Admiral,” she replied, looking up at the sky, knowing that everything she held dear in this Galaxy was beyond her sight. She looked back at the man. “I don’t want any more blood on my hands. But if I’m going to get Watcher’s butt outa the crack it’s in, I guess I’m going to have to.”
“And what are you going to do after we kick the Nation Marines off the Donut?” asked the Admiral.
“Then we get some ships, and go on a little Odyssey of our own,” she replied with a feral smile. “I’ll either have Watcher back, or that damned New Galactic Empire will experience a fall they are not ready for.”
The End
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.
Follow my many characters and settings at http://dougdandridge.net
Contact me at [email protected]
Follow my Blog, Doug BrotherofCats Dandridge at http://dougdandridge.com
Follow me @BrotherofCats
The Favor of a review.
Reviews, ratings and comments on Amazon about this novel are much appreciated. If you liked the story please leave a review that will help others to discover this novel. If you have comments about mistakes I might have made, posting them in a review will tell me what I need to do to grow as a writer and put a quality product out on the net. If you want to see these characters again (at least the ones that survived) a review will let me know I should consider writing in this particular Universe again.
I read all the reviews of my books and love to hear what my readers have to say. If you have a moment I would be grateful for your time. Review Page.
Excerpt from Deeper and Darker
The station, or at least the part of the station that was being used, was crowded with sentient beings for the first time in five thousand years. A wormhole had been installed in the home system of the Suryans, and tens of thousands of personnel now swarmed the walkways and corridors. The great majority were undergoing training, as were the couple of thousand Maurids and Hustedeans who were being bootstrapped up to the modern age.
Almost too many of them, thought Pandora, returning the bow of the kangaroo like Hustedean who was passing her in the corridor. She remembered the first sight of one of those particular aliens, on the Hernand, the ship that had traveled into the past and had been responsible for her going into the future, while the rest of her crew died a death of complete annihilation. These on the station were somewhat more mobile, and she had welcomed them aboard, even if the sight of them brought back the memories.
That had been one of her first decisions after mandating that the Suryans would be running things. She did not want to establish a human hegemony over the other species. So she had ruled that as many alien races as possible should join in the mission, as well as humans from many different worlds. It was not hers or Watcher’s plan to create a human dominated Galaxy, based on one culture and religion. The Galaxy was to be as it had been, a polyglot people of many species, cultures and faiths.
Pandora came out of the corridor and into the long gate room, in which three of the active gates were in use, one to the Suryan home world, two others to the worlds the Suryans and Nation of Humanity people had claimed for their own. Technicians were leaving the gate from the Suryan home world, while other technicians, and men and women who could be classified as missionaries, were going to those more primitive worlds. Pandi smiled as she thought of the missionaries, with Marine guards of course, going to that medieval world she had visited, and telling the kings and dukes the new score.
So many, she thought again, looking at the Suryan Marine guards that were securing this room, knowing that several other gate rooms were also secured. The combat robots of course were also here, and the Suryans thought that they now had total control of the machines, which was one of her little tests of them. So far they had passed, and she was sure they didn’t know she could order a million robots to come to her aid if necessary. They may have guessed it, but they didn’t know. She had her own failsafes built in to make sure the station wasn’t taken from her and Watcher, safeguards she had decided on after the Nation Marines had invaded the station.
“Niven is ready to go,” said Captain Dasha Mandrake, the Flag Captain of the flagship of Pandora’s squadron.
“How about Vengeance and Avenger?” asked the woman from the past, naming the two other vessels in the squadron. She thought the first name was best for her flag, the name of her Kuiper Belt miner that had been her home in the twenty-first century, before the paradox that was a ship from the future destroyed it. The other two ships just suited her personality, and had been the names of two of the vessels she had used since coming to the four hundred and eightieth century. But sometimes I wonder about the luck of naming all my vessels after ships that fell to pieces around me. She shrugged while she looked at the woman who would be her right hand officer.”
“They should be ready in another eighteen hours, according to their Captains,” said the woman who would also be the second in command of the flotilla. “They’re still trying to fill a couple of crew slots, especially since you insisted on some aliens for those spots.”
“Yes,” said Pandora, thinking about what she had ordered. “I do. I don’t want this to be a human only venture.”
“But we have the compliment of robots,” said the Captain, shaking her head. “Enough combat robots to invade a small world, beside the maintenance bots.”
“I want sentients aboard my ships,” said Pandora, shaking her head yet again. “Robots are fine, but I want the command and control functions controlled by sentients. And five thousand years is enough time for these sentients to be living in low tech squalor. They deserve a better future, and that future is now. That’s what I want, and that’s what Watcher wanted.”
Pandora felt a little guilty invoking Watcher’s name for everything, but it worked to get the point across without argument. He had attained the status of a demigod to these people. While they revered her, they worshipped the space he occupied. And she knew he would have wanted this. God knew he had enough guilt as it was, without letting the peoples of the Galaxy die from things that high tech could prevent. And here I am about to lead sentients beings into a crusade that might kills thousands, millions, maybe a lot more. And I justify it because it will be for the benefit of the Galaxy as a whole. But not to the poor slobs who have to do the dying.
“The Admiral still thinks you should wait until we can get you a proper fleet,” said the Captain, looking levelly into Pandora’s eyes. “He believes, as do I, that we might find ourselves up against more than we can handle, depending on the siz
e of this empire.”
“And every moment I waste could bring Watcher closer to death,” said Pandora, her face reddening as the rage rose within her. “I am not going to waste a minute I don’t have too. Unless you and your people want to bail?”
“I would not think of it,” said the young woman, her own voice rising in anger. “We are not cowards, to back out on our pledge. You insult us by even suggesting such.”
Pandora stood there for a moment, closing her eyes and shaking her head, forcing calm back upon herself. She opened her eyes and smiled. “I am very sorry to have insinuated that you and your people would not be loyal. I feel so much stress right now, more than I felt when those fanatics had their hands on me. I did not mean to attack you personally.”
“Apology accepted,” said Mandrake, her own frown turning into a smile. “Now the Admiral would like to talk to you at your earliest convenience.”
“Of course. I guess I might find it convenient by sometime tomorrow,” said Pandora with a wink, and the other woman laughed. Pandi knew that the Suryans jumped to the beck and call of their superiors. But none of them were her superiors in any way.
The Captain saluted and turned away, still smiling, and Pandora headed for the Admiral’s officer off the concourse between gate rooms. The man had chosen an office that had belonged to a high level executive, five thousand years in the past. It probably would have suited the king on his nation, but Pandora thought it perfect for the military commander of the station.
Pandi put her hand to the door and the portal lit up, letting her know that her signal had been received. The door slid open and revealed a good looking young Ensign manning a desk. The woman smiled at Pandora, whose appearance everyone in the Suryan contingent knew by heart. Pandi looked around the room for a moment then back at the dark skinned young officer.
The Suryan system, consisting of a quartet of terraformed moons around a gas giant, had originally been settled by people whose ancestors hailed from the subcontinent of India. Of course in the old Empire there were no places that claimed one hundred percent pure race. But the distinctive look of the Indian people was still apparent in the Suryans.
“The Admiral is expecting you, ma’am,” said the officer with a smile, her eyes unfocusing for a moment as she went into link. Pandora smiled back, remembering that they had wanted to pin some kind of label on her like High Admiral or Archduchess, which she had resisted to the last argument.
“Thank you,” said Pandi, heading for the door on the side of the opulent looking reception room. That door opened as she approached and she walked into the even more luxurious main office. The room was large, of course, twenty by twenty meters, with a desk that seemed to swallow up its small occupant. Rugs of rich fabrics were on the floors, tapestries and painting of rare artistry were on the walls, and every fixture was chased in gold or platinum, and set with jewels.
“I’m so glad you could come, Ms. Latham,” said the Admiral, waving her toward a seat.
“Always happy to oblige, Admiral,” said Pandi, plopping into the comfortable seat that seemed to enfold her body in a warm massage. She sighed in pleasure. “The ancestors sure were a hedonistic bunch.”
“That they were,” said the Admiral with a laugh.
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 dreads.
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.
To Well And Back (The Deep Dark Well) Page 32