by SD Tanner
Tuck interrupted Ark’s tirade against himself. “I don’t agree with that. I don’t want a battle commander that takes getting me killed lightly.”
Ark sighed heavily. “I need to get on my feet. Being stuck in the command center isn’t working for me.”
It was Tank who chuckled and said what they were all thinking. “No, sending Lexie outside of the wire without you is what’s not working for you.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet,” Lexie said with genuine warmth.
“Knock it off, Lexie,” Ark replied irritably. “We worked hard to set up that recon and it’s wasted.”
Ark had said one bot survived the explosion and he asked, “What about the bot we still have inside of the nest?”
“The engineers advised me to power it down until we know what we wanna do with it. It’s inside of the first chamber that leads into the nest, but without repeaters, we can’t get a direct feed of what it’s seeing if it goes any deeper. We’d have to get it back to find out what it’s filmed.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“Power. The nest was badly damaged by the explosion. If we set it onto autopilot, there’s a good chance it could get stuck somewhere until it runs outta power. The engineers are checking the software they loaded to make sure it has enough smarts to work independently. If it doesn’t then they’ll need to download an upgrade before we set it off again.”
“Not a complete loss then, was it?”
“I still think you could have gone into the nest when the critters went offline. I let my personal needs interfere with my command.”
Bill interrupted their discussion. “Ark, you should be telling yourself to knock it off. You’re not a machine and you made a call. Ask anyone here and they’ll tell you it was a good call. Cut yourself some slack.”
Sounding surprised, Ark asked, “What? You agree with what’s happened?”
“You’re the mission leader and the squad’s battle commander. It doesn’t matter whether I agree or not, but in this instance I think you made the right call and I wouldn’t have called it any differently. If you’re gonna lead, Ark, you need to do it with confidence, so suck it up and shut up. We shouldn’t be wasting our time talking about coulda, woulda, shoulda. Start telling us what to do next.”
He couldn’t help smiling to himself. Even if Bill had wanted to challenge Ark for the role of leader, he’d clearly decided not to, and he found himself warming to the man. Bill was a terrible communicator and he wouldn’t follow him, but unlike Boris, at least he knew which side was up. They wouldn’t win against the critters by becoming ruthless towards one another. If anything, they needed to work as a team, even if it only meant they would die together.
After a short pause, Ark said, “Okay, we weren’t wiped out and at last count, between the army and preppers, we still have six hundred shooters. At that level, the critter’s attack failed and we can still train more navs. We need to get on with that. The engineers are telling me they can have a prototype ready within a month to get me on my feet and I’ll be working on that. Jonesy is still outside of the wire gathering intel and I’ll stay in contact with him. The site is a mess and we need to remount the remote guns and clean up.”
Bill interrupted again. “Jo and I will work on that.”
“Thanks, Bill. If anything, we probably bought ourselves some time. We shocked it into shutting down, so I’m guessing we can do that again. Like Leon said, we now know if we kill it then the critters die too.”
“Do you think it’ll mount another attack?” Dunk asked.
“It might, but providing we have Hood’s troopers trained as navs we’ll give it a run for its money if it does,” Ark replied determinedly.
“Could we use the baby bots again?” He asked.
“I dunno, but we could try.”
“What about Cassie?” Jo asked.
“What about her?” Ark replied.
“Did she say anything before she went under again?”
“Nothing that I know of, but I’ll check with Jake.”
“I thought you were recording everything she says.”
“Good point, Jo. I’ll check the files later,” Ark replied. “I don’t think we gained as much as I hoped we would, but we did manage to stop a massive attack against CaliTech, and we know more than we did before.”
He nodded inside of his helmet. “I’d call that a win, Ark.”
It was a win. If the baby bots hadn’t been in place, they probably would have lost CaliTech. That would have cost them lives and the tech they needed to put up a decent fight. He still couldn’t see how they could win, but without CaliTech the critters would roll over them without so much as a glitch in their plans.
“Is it time to go all in yet?” He asked.
“No,” Ark replied firmly. “First we train more navs and then we start killing. We’ll go all in when we’re ready.”
EPILOGUE
It was a false alarm. The explosion had not been caused by the metal men. The man in the colored uniform had informed him of their capabilities, and only the large bunker he called NORAD could cause that type of explosion. The man had lived there and he knew it well. Now he knew more about the bunker it would be easy to remove it as a threat. The metal men were not a true threat and he set aside the risk. It was time to complete his task and he called the engine to the planet.
On his orders, an enormous platform slowly moved from its silent orbit and changing its course, it began its journey to the blue planet.
NAVIGATOR BOOK FOUR
NOW AVAILABLE
BROKEN ARROW (Purchase Now)
Broken Arrow is book four of the completed four-part Navigator series.
The aliens take a step too far and Ark decides it's time to go all in. Sending all of their Navigator battle teams to the nests, they uncover unexpected allies in a final showdown that will determine which side will rule earth.
This is the final battle between man and the aliens, resulting in winners and losers in the ultimate game of poker.
With advanced vision, hydraulics and liquid based armor, Navigators are soldiers of the future. When the world falls to an unexpected enemy, they become mankind's only chance to remain the dominant species.
Broken Arrow is the fourth and final book in the Navigator series. In this fast paced, action-based conclusion, our team stand up to an enemy capable of taking over mankind.
Also by SD Tanner
Books in NAVIGATOR Series
Book One:
ENEMY LINES (Purchase Now)
Book Two
BLIND SIGHTED (Purchase Now)
Book Three
KILLER EDGE (Purchase Now)
Book Four
BROKEN ARROW (Purchase Now)
Books in Hunter Wars Series
(Series One of The Hunter Wars)
Book One:
EVE OF THE HUNTER WARS (Purchase Now)
Book Two:
HEAVEN MEETS HELL (Purchase Now)
Book Three:
ARMY OF ANGELS (Purchase Now)
Book Four:
GIFT FROM GOD (Purchase Now)
Book Five:
RIGHT TO RULE (Purchase Now)
Book Six:
CALL TO WAR (Purchase Now)
Books in Eden Lost Trilogy
(Series Two of The Hunter Wars)
Book One:
HIDDEN EVIL (Purchase Now)
Book Two
DEAD ALIVE (Purchase Now)
Book Three
DIVINE DEATH
(Release: 2016)
Standalone Books
TIME TO DIE (Purchase Now)
TWISTED DAZE (Purchase Now)
Also by SD Tanner
Books in Hunter Wars Series
(Series One of The Hunter Wars)
Book One:
EVE OF THE HUNTER WARS (Purchase Now)
Gears, Pax and TL are brothers and soldiers in the US Army when the world comes to an abrupt halt. Thrust into the apocalypse
, they decide mankind deserves another chance. Their ruling puts them at the center of an epic battle between good and evil, and they uncover the hidden truth behind the Devil in the land of the undead. Along the way, they meet a woman they name Ip and their true role is revealed.
Forming the first of their bases, they call survivors to their side and unwittingly make enemies of the undead and the living. Determined to succeed, they take drastic steps to secure safe havens for those left alive.
Book Two:
HEAVEN MEETS HELL (Purchase Now)
New friends are found, but the face of evil makes its presence known in the safety of their bases. Pax makes a mistake and Ip pays the price, but Gears refuses to let his new enemy rule the day.
Book Three:
ARMY OF ANGELS (Purchase Now)
Determined to fight fire with fire, Gears offers the survivors the choice of infection. Mackenzie does the unthinkable creating a remarkable outcome that makes Gears question everything he knows about life.
Book Four:
GIFT FROM GOD (Purchase Now)
Desperate to find safe land where they can grow food, they take the drastic step of seeking safer shores. The Devil takes Pax to a place he never knew existed and Ip learns who she really is. Captain Ted makes a mistake that Gears must undo or they'll lose everything they've gained.
Book Five:
RIGHT TO RULE (Purchase Now)
Fed up with the Devil’s play, Gears is determined to enforce his right to rule. The Devil disagrees and does something they didn't expect, setting them back again. Captain Ted is forced to make a terrible choice and they stand to lose more than they gain. The land is dying and hunger grips their world.
Book Six:
CALL TO WAR (Purchase Now)
Gears witnesses the impossible and they learn there's more that the Devil can do. Faced with disaster, he calls the game to an end and prepares for a final battle. Mankind must make their true intent known or all will be lost for a thousand years.
Books in Eden Lost Trilogy
(Series Two of The Hunter Wars)
Book One:
HIDDEN EVIL (Purchase Now)
It's been five years since they put the Devil in his place, but all is not well in Eden and our Horsemen have dug their way out of their graves. It seems the Devil wasn't done and neither were they. Gears must uncover his new mission, and he believes he needs another army to defend his right to rule. America is at war with itself and he needs to know why.
Book Two
DEAD ALIVE (Purchase Now)
The hunters have returned, but they're not the same as they were. Gears, Pax and TL decide they need to look for the problem in Eden and uncover more than they ever expected. Ruler is playing them all for fools, and Gears finds a unique solution to save America.
Book Three
DIVINE DEATH
(Release: Scheduled 2016)
Books in NAVIGATOR Series
Book One:
ENEMY LINES (Purchase Now)
After nearly being executed in a war zone, Staff Sergeant Leon Shield finds himself urgently recalled from deployment, and lands back home to a defeated country. In a matter of days, and without a single shot being fired, a new species has taken over the world. Determined to survive Armageddon, the only chance to fight back is to find a man called Ark, and use an untested technology to become Navigators.
With hydraulics, armor and advanced vision, Navigators are soldiers of the future, and in the game of survival of the fittest, they become the only hope man has to fight for their right to dominate.
Book Two
BLIND SIGHTED (Purchase Now)
Leon and Ark elect to train their new Navigator squad outside the wire, while Bill works with the weapons engineers to solve the bigger problems. The medical team are taking the critters apart, desperately looking for anything that will give them an edge.
Book Three
KILLER EDGE (Purchase Now)
Our team match the enemy by creating a little critter magic of their own. New forces join them, and survivors add their weight to the fight, further changing what becomes possible. First contact is made, and believing they are running headlong into failure, Ark learns to take the lesser loss.
Book Four
BROKEN ARROW (Purchase Now)
The aliens take a step too far and Ark decides it's time to go all in. Sending all of their Navigator battle teams to the nests, they uncover unexpected allies in a final showdown that will determine which side will rule earth.
Standalone Books
TIME TO DIE (Purchase Now)
Jack Locke was an Army Intelligence expert and a criminal investigator. In 2050, scientists learn how to extend life by five hundred years, but the technology also opens the way for race-based genocide and genetic engineering.
Struggling to deal with his tragic past, he finds himself trying to stop the President from using DNA-based biological warfare to cull an over populated world. Locke must protect the world from a technology that aimed to help, but could change what makes us human.
TWISTED DAZE (Purchase Now)
Serena and her husband moved back to the US after living abroad. Renting an old property in the country, a series of odd events take place that cannot be explained. Questioning her sanity, she slowly realizes that there's something very wrong, but the truth is nothing she could ever have predicted. This is a psychological thriller with a paranormal twist and it starts with the Ouija board.
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