Pirate Empress Snippet 1

Okay, so, later than expected, but given what's been going on not surprising I guess. I sent the manuscript off to Rea over the weekend. I even did my taxes too.

I am officially half way through Jethro 6: Drop Commando. More on that in the future.
I'm hoping to get through it before the Funeral and invasion. I agreed to a couple of people spending the week with us and it's going to get... interesting to say the least.

On to the snippet!
Oh, wait, a note on that. Chapter 1 picks up during the events of Chapter 58 and moves on from there. So, you get to see a few things I left out.

Chapter 1

“What the hell is going on?” Commodore Elvira Varbossa demanded once she was marched into a room. She looked around the room; it was a basic junior officer's quarters. The 2 guards had said nothing. When she turned on them they just closed the door.

She pounded on it with her fist, pissed. “You said you'd explain when we got to where we were going!” she raged, then sank down. She didn't know. That was what bothered her the most. Was she being interred? Had something happened to Catherine? What the hell was going on??!

Her eyes widened as a fresh thought occurred to her. Had she been abducted? Or was it Imperial Intelligence? The Palace Guard? Secret Police? Who was behind this?

“Damn it, I've got work to do!” she raged, pounding on the door before giving it up as a wasted effort. She ran a frustrated hand through her raven locks, unsure what to do.

She looked around the quarters, shoulders against the door. The standard view screen was missing. Perfect. Apparently they didn't want her to access the net. She had basic implants, they lacked wifi. She scowled at the wiring and then to the small desk. Under it she saw a stack of water bottle and energy bars, even some MRE's. Apparently someone thought she was going to be there a while.

She checked the head. It was a Jack and Jill style, typical of junior officers but the other door was locked. She looked at it, ready to see if she could find a way to pick it but then noted it had been spot welded shut.

“Yeah, someone has done their homework,” she muttered. It didn't bode well for her. Then again, it wasn't the brig or worse, the wrong side of an airlock. “What's that saying? Where there is life there is hope?” she shook her head.

Hope was in short supply at the moment. The Federation was at their door. No, worse, they were past it and in the home star system of the Horathian Empire. A recent cyber-attack and physical attack had shattered Horath's industry. Hell, not just their industry, everyone's nerve, she thought in anger. Her fingers clenched until she felt her nails bite into her palms.

“Frack,” she muttered. “What the hell am I supposed to do, stare at the walls?” she growled, eyeing the room. She picked a hair brush up and threw it at the door. It clattered and then fell to the floor. As expected, no response. She let out a puttering sigh and regained control of her nerves.

She should be freaked. Had they thought of that? Not even a damn note. Many people in her position would be freaked beyond reason. Ready to charge the guards harm themselves or others. Threaten them; get themselves in trouble, whatever. All she wanted to do was get back to work.

Up until a short time ago she had been neck deep in trying to salvage something, anything of the situation. The yards were torn up. Every piece of electronic hardware was fracked up, either destroyed by rampaging viruses or shut down with the viruses lurking in their software for a reboot. She wasn't much of a coder but she'd played her part trying to work the problem.

And now this.

She sat on the edge of the rack and tried to figure out what was going on. She pulled open the desk draws, empty. There was an exercise mat under the bed and a change of clothes, sweats.

“Yeah, someone thought of everything except me going nuts!” she said, yelling at the door. As expected, no response.

She huffed and then punched the mattress for a few moments. Crying wasn't her style but she was tempted. It just didn't seem to matter.

“Damn it!”

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"This is Empress Catherine Ramichov addressing the population of the Horathian Empire for the first time," Catherine said carefully. It was her first address to the people, and she wanted it to hit just the right tone. It had taken a lot of work to get the short message out. She wasn't sure about the punch, but she wanted to get it out quickly.

It was funny, something her late and unlamented grandmother had taught her. Many people planned up to an event but rarely the aftermath.

Well, she had, but not the events around it that had led to this point she hadn't figured on. Nor the additional audience of the hidden Federation ships. So she had to be quick and careful.

"My father and family are dead. Do not mourn them, for I ended their threat to our civilization once and for all. Had I not done so my father would have defiantly let Horath burn while continuing to think he was about to win."

She waited for that to sink in.

"My father enacted a paranoid act of genocide, first with the Ministry of Purity and Enlightenment, and then with his genocidal campaign that has turned the entire galaxy against us. I won't make excuses for his actions or those who supported him. We realize now that it was a mistake, something my father could and would never admit."

"Well, he's no longer among the living so this is now our problem. Now we have to deal with his legacy. My second act as empress is to renounce the bloodlust as Admiral Irons eloquently called it. No longer will we act on our baser impulses. We are better than that."

"For now we will work on search and rescue and help those we can as I consult with my new Ministers and the House of Lords on our next course of action. That is all."

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