Expanding Horizons is publishing now!

 So, I just launched Expanding Horizons:

About:

  The Federation was reborn in the desperate fight to stop the pirates. Over the years the war escalated and eventually the Federation managed to push them to run. Now the hunt is on to find their hidden battle moon and end the threat to the galaxy once and for all.

  In the Tau sector the war with the Tauren Confederation is reaching its peak. Forces have been rushed there to end the threat once and for all. The Taurens have a brutal fleet aimed straight at the sector capital.

  However Admiral Irons has another problem. The transcendent beings called Spirits have returned with dire warnings of more impending doom. The Federation needs to marshal resources to meet this threat that their best scientists barely understand.

  Meanwhile the neighboring sector is heating up as an unholy alliance bears frightening fruit. It seems that the Federation is undergoing growing pains as it sees its Expanding Horizons…

Amazon: Expanding Horizons

B&N: ... Expanding Horizons

Expanding Horizons Snippet 3

 Last snippet and then I'll publish the book probably this afternoon or tomorrow sometime.

Chapter 3

 

SG7-171, Sigma sector

 

Draco idly listened to the report on the hunt for the missing spook. They had finally arrived in the 171 star system and found a message in the hidden buoy from the admiral. Apparently, Golden Goose had dropped him off at this location and then moved on.

The ONI lieutenant took his sweet time sorting it out before releasing some of the information. The admiral had altered his appearance shockingly. He was traveling under the alias Harold Walter White, somewhat appropriate according to the lieutenant though he didn’t say why. That set them off to go to the planet and take a look while the ship stripped the buoy of ship traffic through the star system between the admiral’s last message and their arrival time.

>>><><<< 

Sergeant Holy Winters stuffed her hands in her pockets as she picked up the trail where Admiral Michael Briggs had left off. She browsed the bar district. They had an alias and face to use as a description though they were strictly forbidden to mention them to anyone.

Which made finding someone who didn’t want to be found all the harder she thought in annoyance.

“This is impossible,” she muttered.

“Maybe we should put a bounty on his head?” Ari asked.

The sergeant turned to her with a “You aren’t serious” look on her face.

“Look, I know it is a risk, but I’m thinking we put up a paternity bounty or something that fits with his profile.”

The sergeant shook her head. “Spooks do not like any attention drawn to themselves or a public record. They slip in and out.”

“All right, fine, how the hell are we supposed to find him if we can’t ask or show his picture?”

“No idea,” she muttered.

>>><><<< 

Draco picked up news in a bar about two big fellas, Jacob and TJ, who paid well for tips about spacers. Usually, the spacer went missing sometime shortly after.

There was speculation that they were killing them. Others said they had shanghaied the poor sod to their ship, just one missing man among many.

He got a name of the ship they traveled on, a nondescript Clydesdale class freighter called FX-9915A. He bought a round of drinks for his informant and even paid his back tab. That got others talking about the duo in hopes of getting a free drink. He didn’t begrudge them, even if they just confirmed what he already knew. He didn’t care; it was all on ONI’s dime anyway.

Angie confirmed the ship in their briefing files and then uploaded the tip to the ship and the waiting ONI lieutenant.

They got an acknowledgment of the report as well as a request for more information.

>>><><<< 

On the cruiser, Captain Howard listened to a briefing. The lieutenant confirmed that the freighter FX-9915A was identified as a pirate. “We have no record of them in the official database outside of this area. I am cross-referencing port of calls they might have made in the area as well as the timing of their movements.

“Be aware they might have changed their ID codes and name in different ports,” the ship’s AI warned.

The lieutenant paused and then nodded.

“Checking, I have found four other ships that match the general description of FX-9915A,” the AI reported.

“Put it on a map with time codes. The same for the known appearances of the ship,” the captain ordered.

The AI did so and then with his own initiative drew lines between the locations with time codes. There was a big hole though in some of the lines.

“So, somewhere in this given area?” the captain asked as he made a circling gesture over a volume of space. It was in the search zone of the El Dorado. Dozens of ships were searching that volume of space.

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, we might have narrowed down the search zone or we might have a red herring. I’m curious as to which this will turn out to be.”

“Sir, what happened to the admiral?”

“Damned if I know. All I do know is that he’s now rather thoroughly on his own,” the captain said with a resigned shake of his head. “He’s gone where we can’t follow.”

“Yes, sir.”

>>><><<< 

Draco wasn’t surprised when they were recalled a week after being deployed to the planet. He was a bit surprised that the captain wanted to move around the area and strip the hidden spy drones and message buoys in the empty star systems in ten star systems. All with an eye to picking up the Clydesdale’s trail.

He wondered if they were going to try to catch and board the ship. Apparently, that was still up in the air after their debrief.

“Good work. You did well. Time to hit the hay again. We’ll wake you when we find a target for you,” the captain said simply.

Draco exchanged looks with his squad and then they got up and headed to the stasis pod compartment.

>>><><<< 

Expanding Horizons Snippet 2

 I received the manuscript back from Goodlifeguide this morning. So I will be publishing it soon.

On to the snippet!

Chapter 2

 

Senator Russell was briefed about the possible scouting mission. He of course passed it on to his circle of supporters and allies within the senate.

“We were already counting on cutting the navy’s budget with the end of the war. Now the damn Spirits sticking their head into things, and now this?” Senator Calliat demanded. She was new blood and had a lot of heat to go with her freshman status.

She had come to prominence recently after the successful rescue of the Cadre transport. That was how her domestic media back home was spinning it.

Senator Russell was dubious about the mission, but even more dubious about standing in its way. He didn’t want to be the one on record for getting in the way of something prudent only for it to bite him in the ass later. He hated I told you so’s and was still smarting from getting his hand slapped for diverting so much of the military’s budget to his pet Army friends.

“What do we do?” Senator Falconi asked. He wasn’t in it to block the scouting so much as to get some favors out of ending his own opposition to it. Those always came in handy later.

“The usual. Float some rumors about blocking it or not letting it get out of committee. Maybe even hold the entire military appropriation block up if we have to.”

“Ah? For?” Senator Falconi asked.

“For a briefing at the least,” Senator Russell stated. “We’ll play it by ear from there.”

The others nodded.

>>><><<< 

Vice President Jeff Randall as president of the Senate picked up on the flack going on through his staff. He was actually expecting it; it seemed that some people were just ornery. A block of senators had set themselves up as the opposition to whatever path the administration set out on. Two senators threatened to block any appropriation bill for the budget to scout the neighboring sectors. They were still wrangling over the issue with what the Spirits had said about energy and all that.

He shook his head. He understood the sentiment in theory; they were afraid that the navy would find trouble. Or they were just cynical enough to believe that the navy was trying to justify its high spending levels.

Either way it was within their right to demand a briefing from the navy over the subject and a plan. He passed on a mild email to Admiral Pashenkov to support the move.

>>><><<< 

Admiral Pashenkov was still trying to put the fires out when he received the demand for a briefing. “We’re still in the planning stage,” he commented when he was asked for an initial Admiralty reaction.

“Sir, do we send this to the president?”

“No. I don’t think this needs to rise to Admiral Irons’ desk just yet.”

“Yes, sir,” his AI replied.

He frowned as he looked out the window to the shipyard in the distance. He could see the flicker of lights as tugs and ships moved around in a coordinated ballet. He finally flicked his ears at his own reflection.

“Do we have a plan yet?”

“Send at least a division to each sector to scout while the local commanders set up a series of pickets, ansibles, and a naval base near the jump line, sir. It is rough but at the moment we don’t have more. We’re letting the local commanders know and let them choose the ships involved.”

“Ah.”

“If we do it this way, they can get moving on the project sooner. We can wrangle the budget as they get ships moving.”

The wolf’s ears went flat briefly. “I know. If we waited until the politicians got off whatever stick they are on and let us do our jobs, it would be rather chilly in an infernal place,” he drawled in disgust.

“Yes, sir. The demand?”

“I hate giving into threats like that. But they have a point. Get our ducks in a row and then set up the briefing.”

“Yes, sir. Direct with you or with someone else?”

“Not directly with me. Find a captain and have them handle it.”

“Aye aye, sir.”

>>><><<< 

Expanding Horizons Snippet 1

 Sitrep:

I am still plugging away at Shelby 8. I am almost at the act III mark. Fun. I am also still plugging at AI art on SeaArt. You can check some of it out there under my name.

Eventually I plan to update the Wiki. Hopefully before June. No promises!

 In other news I'm also making some progress on my SC Viking as well as my J5. I am hoping to get 1 long term project completed before June.

 

 Anyway, I have been working on the AI art enhancing and remaking some of the covers. Expect to see the update hit Amazon and B&N sometime in the near future. (After I finish Shelby 8 most likely!)

 

 So, Rea sent me back Expanding Horizons yesterday. I changed the schedule to put that book out next. So, in a couple of weeks we'll see Expanding Horizons published, and then in May the Roo book, and then Bootstrap Colony 5 in July (?) and then Shelby 8 and so on and so forth. 

On to the snippet!

Chapter 1

 

Antigua, Capital of the New Federation

 

Fleet Admiral and acting President John Henry Irons sighed under his breath as he came into his office and took a seat. He looked up to the ceiling and then over to the two glowing beings floating nearby.

As he studied them, he noted they turned slightly to seemingly look at each other. He couldn’t tell a face from, well, any side actually. They were amorphous, mercurial, he thought. Their bodies were blobs that changed shape. They had tendrils of energy that were sometimes tentacles, sometimes hair, and sometimes … other things. Even with his enhanced senses, it was hard to keep track.

They were beings of energy, of that he could attest. They had no mass yet were there. Looking directly at them without eye protection was equivalent of looking into the sun. Proteus had to filter his vision so he could see them and the room clearly.

When they testified on the hill, it had been hilarious. The clerk telling them to raise their right appendage had been fun. Threats of a subpoena … and the ultraconservatives having tizzy fits and trying to insinuate that they were delusions or constructs … all fun but exhausting.

The Spirits had crashed many inquiries about them and apparently private discussions too. They had been at various press conferences—they or their gremlins.

Now the gremlins were beings he could see, though just the eyes and hands most of the time. Only very rarely a toothy grin under the eyes, usually when someone did or said something stupid. The teeth were, again, made out of energy. Sometimes they were dark, sometimes bright. They tended to have smoky contrails around any part that he could see.

He had to wonder if it was for show or not. He had to wonder about a lot of things as of late.

No one else could see the gremlins. Even the cadre had trouble picking them up. Security was having fits over them. He didn’t understand why. They’d been around for ages, and it wasn’t like they’d known then. Well, they had known; they just hadn’t believed.

Now they did and well, some people were just a trifle upset over it all. In any other day, he’d be amused. At the moment, not so much.

“Forgot your coffee?” one of the energy beings asked. He knew that most people still had a hard time classifying them as Spirits. Technically, they were evolved people, a merging of the life orders into a higher consciousness of pure energy.

Or so history said at any rate.

“No, why?”

“You seem perturbed,” the voice said. There was something … almost holy about the spirit voices. There were echoes in the voice, something that reverberated deep down. It had a female timber so he classed it as the female Murphy, Luscious.

“No more so than usual.”

“Ah. Politics?”

“Pretty much. The bane of my existence,” he sighed.

“Well, speaking of perturbed, Eve is really pissed at you by the way. I’d avoid her if at all possible.”

“Oh? Why?” He frowned thoughtfully at her. Eden was one of the spirits, the first modern one if the histories were right. She and her AI counterpart had merged in an unsanctioned experiment gone wrong. Or, from her point of view, very right.

Each spirit took on a hobby as he thought of it. In their case, it was a calling according to them, a job much like the mythological gods of Terra and other species. The Murphy twins were in charge of chaos and luck in all forms. Their gremlins were their agents.

Eve was the spirit of creation or one of them at any rate. The list went on and on.

“The novas.”

“In other words, this mess is partially your fault,” Murphy said in a dark voice.

“Ah …?” He frowned and lifted his right eyebrow in curious inquiry.

“To paraphrase an old movie quote, scientists are always preoccupied whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should,” Murphy said.

The admiral blinked and then his eyes narrowed.

“Specifically the nova bomb,” Lady Luck interjected as if her brother had not said anything.

Admiral Irons blinked. “Okay, I admit I had a hand in making it, but the idea was already out there. It had been dreamed up for many, many years.”

“But you made it happen.”

The admiral’s lips puckered but he remained silent as he digested that.

“Eve was seriously pissed when you navy blokes came up with weapons that could destroy planets. Then you come up with a way to blow up a star? Destroying everything in the star system?” Lady Luck seemed both awed and yet annoyed. “You did one up on Shiva, destroyer of worlds.”

“Oppenheimer,” Admiral Irons murmured as he caught the reference. He frowned and then shook himself.

“True. But I admit that the idea has been out there for centuries as I just said. In my defense, my plan had been to trap the enemy fleets and blow them away in strategic strikes in unpopulated star systems not … that.”

He glanced to the side of his desk where his AI appeared as holographic avatars.

“And he didn’t intend for the enemy to get the weapon,” Lieutenant Commander Protector stated, coming to his defense.

“And all paths to a certain infernal place are not paved with good intentions?” Murphy asked.

Admiral Irons winced slightly. He had thought he’d faced his demons over his involvement with the Nova bomb. Apparently, they were coming back to haunt him once more.

“No one ever intends for the other side to get a weapon. But they have to contend with the outcome if and when they do. Such as during World War I when gas weapons were introduced on the battlefield,” the male Murphy stated flatly.

Admiral Irons grunted and nodded slightly, conceding the point.

“Admiral, you of all people should know half of research and development is knowing a technology is possible. Seeing someone use it makes it possible for the other side. They have to have a counter and their own version to level the playing field,” the female spirit stated.

“True,” he conceded with another nod.

“In your defense, you were not in charge of security. The Xenos did have trouble getting it but eventually, they managed to do so after you went into stasis.”

The admiral nodded again. “Thanks … I think.”

“Destruction is so much easier than creation. All species go through that phase. Fire … oh, shiny! Learn how it burns by torching something before using it to create,” Murphy complained.

“You always loved fireworks,” Lady Luck said. “And you are the one that loves chaos,” she reminded her twin just as some of the cabinet and staff entered the room.

The mortals looked from her to Murphy and then back, again arrested by their presence.

“True,” Murphy replied. “I still do. And yes, I still revel in destruction. That part of me never changed.”

“I see we’re nearly all here. How about we get this show going then?” Admiral Irons suggested as Admiral Sprite appeared on his desk in holographic form and other beings appeared in the same manner or in person. “I know we have a full agenda …”

“Very full. You need to get your house in order. I know it will never happen completely, but it does need some sorting out on multiple fronts before we can get serious about the star problem you mortals created,” Murphy said.

Admiral Irons grunted and nodded once more.

“And no, we can’t tell you anything. We’re forbidden to tell you the location of the pirate bases, or what’s going on in a neighboring sector … or across the galaxy …”

“Quit teasing them and giving them hints bro. They are having trouble sleeping at night as it is,” Lady Luck scolded.

Murphy made a shrug gesture but the gremlins around him seemed to smile a feral Cheshire grin.

Admiral Irons exchanged looks with some of the other morals in the room. “File that away under things we’ll have to look into I suppose,” he said with another sigh.

“Yeah,” Admiral Sprite drawled. She still seemed fascinated with the Spirits.

>>><><<<