Retribution Snippet 1

Hi,
So, the editing is humming along nicely. Only 2 people left who haven't turned in their notes. As soon as I get Tim's feedback I'll be shipping the manuscript off to Rea. (yes despite the rants in some of the reviews on Amazon I am sticking with Rea) :)

Anyway, I thought it was time to post some snippets.
I have an Intro before Chapter 1 but I'm skipping it here since I just jotted it out. A little bit of intro for this though, the book starts off similarly to Pirate Rage. You'll see what I mean later on. But if you haven't read Tales of the Federation Reborn you might want to skip reading this and go pick up a copy first. ;)

Act I

Chapter 1

Petty Officer third Class Kelsea Travere slowed her pace and cocked her head as she noted the skipper was at the navigational station. She frowned thoughtfully. "Something wrong skipper?"

The Captain didn't look her way, just kept working at the console. When she was finished she plugged a chip in and then turned. "No, nothing is wrong."

"Um..."

"Captain something's going on with the computer," PO Blake Hale said from his post manning the ship's sensors. "I just lost all the log files... there is a script going on... do we have another virus?"

"Indeed we do," the captain said as she noted the 100 percent mark on the screen in front of her. She pulled the flash chip and then placed it on a chain. The chain went around her neck. "I just deleted our navigational data," she said.

"Um..."

"The only record I've kept is with me. And I've encrypted it," she said.

"We're only going to exit in Nightingale ma'am."

"That's not the only reason I'm doing it."

Blake frowned thoughtfully as Kelsea came over to relieve him. He rose from the chair and she slipped in his place.

"We're exiting hyper in a few minutes ma'am. Why did you do that? It might throw our heading off a bit since we no longer have the way markers behind us to compare too," Blake said carefully.

"My business," The captain said tightly, eyes narrowing.

Kelsea frowned as she put the arm of the chair down and then logged in to the computer. She checked the status board and nodded.

"Paranoid much ma'am?" Blake asked, not ready to let the subject go.

"Just being careful. I don't want our find to be taken from us," she stated.

"I like the sound of the 'us' there ma'am," Chief Faver stated as he came in to the compartment behind them.

Captain Bellerose eyed him, sizing up his loyalty. She wasn't certain if the chief or anyone else had made a copy of their log. She hadn't seen a copy mark in the file... but then again that was easy to delete. He hesitated then seemed to ignore her look as he went over to the electronic box connected to the helm station.

"A problem chief?" Kelsea asked.

"Some signal noise we're trying to run down and clean up. The software filters keep pointing to a hardware issue."

"Okay," Kelsea replied thoughtfully. The chief was hopefully on to something Marengo had the occasional filter issue from time to time that haunted the crew. More so now with their new additions to the ship's bridge network. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the chief hooked up his gear to test the data lines. It sucked that they'd run electrical lines not ODN. They hadn't had any spare ODN lines long enough for the project.

It also sucked that the lines ran through the ship's hatches. At least the chief had been smart enough to drape it rather than have it as a trip point. Only the tall people had to watch out for it.

But what interested her the most about his temporary distraction was that he was watching the skipper intently. And from the occasional look she managed to sneak to the skipper, she was also aware of the subterfuge going on.

"As you were people," the captain said. "I'll be in my wardroom," she said as she stalked out of the compartment without a backwards glance.

The chief seemed to exhale like air coming out of a balloon. Kelsea shook her head and then went back to refining the sensor data for the transition out of hyper.

:::{)(}:::

Kelsea's day wasn't quite over when she got off shift. She picked up her dinner, and then went to the compartment where the aliens were. She had a stable stomach, but the stench hit her right when she came through the airlock Doctor Cloutier had set up to prevent it from fumigating the ship.

"You're turn? Thank the gods, Maevus said, shaking her head as she got off the stool. She handed Kelsea a tablet and darted through the hatch before the other woman could say anything.

She juggled the tablet, her drink and plate until she got to the stool. She heard a soft moan but ignored it. She took a seat and started to read out loud in between bites.

It was all a part of the service apparently; the boss lady wanted everyone to get familiar with their prizes and to read to them. It wasn't quite out of a mommy complex, the doc insisted seeing humans in a nonthreatening light would help them with their interactions. And tone mattered apparently. So, hence the reading. It was also an attempt to keep the aliens sane, something that was a worry of the doctor.

They knew the aliens couldn't understand them, nor vice versa. The skipper had thought to set up the life support, harvested from a Gashg habitat, but she hadn't factored on the need to communicate with a species that didn't understand them in return. Doctor Cloutier had also overlooked the problem and he kept muttering about their universal translators.

Whatever. It didn't matter. An order was an order, so Kelsea stood her shift like everyone else. She refused to barter to cover other shifts for other people though, no matter what they offered her in return. She wasn't that much of a masochist thank you very much she thought acidly. She glanced at the clock and then took a sip of tepid water. There was a sputter in the tank. She glanced at it, then back down to the tablet.

She was so not amused when she realized she was reading Moby Dick.

:::{)(}:::

   Oh, BTW, I am switching up my next book. I decided to go with Enemy of my Enemy (Horatio's Adventures 1) over the Founding anthology book I'd planned on working on. I've been writing scenes off and on in EE, Gathering Storm, J5, and Shelby's Adventures for the past couple of days. After a bit of thought I figured I'd stick with what is fresh on my mind and roll with it. We'll see how it turns out.