Full Circle is publishing... now!

Ayeyup, I went and did it. Full Circle is publishing now. I'll post the links when they become available.

  Rear Admiral Horatio Logan has been through the ringer in Bek. Sent there by Fleet Admiral Irons to get the system's navy up to date, he instead walked into a rebellion and was court-martialed as a concequence of it.

  Admiral Irons managed to stomp out the rebellion and restore order to the star system. Admiral Logan returned to his duty and his original mission.

  But, there is still some lingering resistance in Bek. And there are also powerful things afoot in the outer Federation. Eventually both forces will conspire to move Admiral Logan out of Bek and back to the Federation where a new destiny awaits.

 

  Folklore is in the hands of the Betas, and I'm off this week and next to decompress and catch up on other projects. I'm hoping to get the ID-10 done,(But the model has picked up some gaps and wicked warps)  plus make some progress on the much delayed Reindeer Project. The weather is conspiring against me however. :P

EDIT:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HCMJ9MR

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1129537672?ean=2940161565957
Thank you Duncan!

Anyway, enjoy the book and please post a review!

Folklore cover

Oops, I meant to post a snippet yesterday. I got caught up in other things.

I'm going to publish Full Circle later this morning so I'll pass on the snippet. But, here is the cover of Folklore.

The station is from CGtrader.com. The ship is a revamped version also from that site. I blended a few HDRI files for the background.

Full Circle Snippet 5

Sitrep: So, expect Full Circle to be published September 14. That is this Friday.

   Second, I'm starting to decompress and work on my projects. One of them, my flying ID-10 I started just hit a major wall. While putting the legs together I ran into serious brittle, warp, and cracking issues. I know shrinkage caused some of the fitting issues, and I know printing at 5% infill or hollow didn't help. I thought printing with ABS and then hardening it with hot acetone would help.
Nuh uh.
Okay, so, static model it is. I'm so dispirited with it I'm just going to make it as a standing model. I'm not going to try to figure out how to vacuum form the body or anything. I'll print a base for it later in the week.
As my sister said when she heard the news, bummer.
  But, at least I'm not buying a ton of stuff to try to get the little droid to fly. It would have really sucked if I'd gotten it up only to see it crash into something and blow apart in a million pieces.
Pass.
  I do need to buy a lot of bondo filler to finish it. (seriously) Getting the warps out is going to be tough too. Ugh. I'm not even going to add lights to it. Just finish it, paint it, pose, touch up, and then move on to the next project. Which is currently printing. :)

On to the snippet!

Chapter 4 

Childress Shipwrights went down with the matriarch when she and other supporters were found guilty. Mrs. Childress remained silent as she was escorted to prison. Her family's company was taken apart by the courts and sold off to pay creditors. The media reported that she and others had filed appeals but had been denied bail and an opportunity to sit those appeals out when their personal fortunes had been drained. They had tried to drum up sympathy over the massive court fees, but no one was interested.

Several retired supporters of Admiral Childress were tried in civilian court and found guilty. One committed suicide. Two others had died under mysterious circumstances. The others were sentenced, though a few like Admiral Open Eyes turned on his fellows and for a reduced sentence had testified against them, sealing their fate.

Each of the contractors who had supported Childress was blackballed from government or naval contracts. That hit their bottom line, and investors left in droves. Fabian CNC makers went under. Snipclick Enterprises did a day later.

Baker, the Neocat who had come from Pyrax, took a position in a newly-reformed industrial board in order to make sense of the chaos. He had sternly taken charge, settling some of the market jitters in the process.

It wasn't without its trials though. He found that even though the political animals were down, they were by no means beaten. Some back-scratching was still going on behind the scenes.

When he heard the lobbyists were scrambling and the subcontractors were ticked, he knew something was up. It didn't take him long to use his taps into the scuttlebutt to get to the bottom of it. When he did he just groaned and shook his head.

~~(O)~~

Horatio wasn't surprised that the various review boards were scrambling to justify their jobs while screaming to their friends to do something to cover for them. Some of those same friends had gotten their contracts through suspicious means. He'd been tempted to sic the IG office or JAG on them but had held off. Suspicious activity wasn't proof without evidence to back it up.

Lieutenant Olson and the others he had recruited had at first been cautious, but then had gleefully pointed out the most boisterous obstructionists in the byzantine review process. They had spent the first day going over a flow chart and seeing what dead weight could be lost to straighten the process out and streamline it.

He'd been a little irritated but not surprised that Commander Dreamer of Ships had let the cat out of the bag to some of the contractors. Beau had pointed to a yeoman who had also done the same. So be it.

He sent his pitch to Zek with a copy to Antigua. Zek approved of the changes. Antigua took a little longer but also approved the changes.

That was when he was called into Vice Admiral Maok's office.

Vice Admiral Richard Maok had been a dinosaur who had resigned in protest when Childress had first taken over. When he'd taken up Admiral Irons' offer and returned to duty, he'd taken over the Weapons Development Board. According to their research, he was the primary culprit for some of the recent delays in the ship approval process.

The funny thing was he hadn't run across the admiral or many of the review boards when he had designed and built Ilmarinen. Apparently, Childress or someone else had browbeat them into getting them to accept the design in order to see it blow up in Horatio's face or to get rid of Horatio all together.

Either way, he had to deal with the man now.

It was a little amusing when he was called in to the vice admiral's office like an errant child sent to the principal's office for being too rambunctious.

“Look Logan, I don't know how they do it out there, and I really don't care. But here, we take our jobs seriously. And I don't like threats,” the admiral stated once Horatio had reported to his office.

“I wasn't aware you were threatened, Admiral,” Horatio stated carefully, checking for implants. The admiral had the basic ID implants but nothing more. He regretted not letting Beau access the admiral's BUPERS file. He'd denied the simple request because he had thought someone in BUPERS would have noticed.

“Are you after my job? Just what do you want?”

“Admiral, each of those ship designs was approved by the Antigua design review process. They are in full production there and in Pyrax. Yet for some reason the boards here have refused to allow them to be put into production. There have been all manner of excuses. I noted this wasn't a problem when Admiral Irons was here. Yet, now that he isn't, there is a problem.”

“Are you insinuating something, Logan?”

“No, sir. Just reflecting about the timing,” Horatio replied with an indifferent shrug.

“I take my job very seriously as do the others on the board. We exist for a reason.”

“Currently the job you are doing is redundant. That is why we are streamlining the process.”

The vice admiral glared at him. “I don't have to justify my job to you.”

“Admiral, I am the deputy commander of BUSHIPS. It's my job to make sure these designs are put into production as quickly and as painlessly as possible. It's my job to also eliminate waste and redundancy. It isn't personal.”

“The hell you say!”

“Well, you have several options here. You can try to fight it, but I've already gotten permission from Admiral Zekowitz as well as the Antigua Admiralty to move the dismantling process along. Or, you can do something. Something constructive would be to transfer to Antigua and take up your old job there.”

He didn't state that he highly doubted the admiral would be allowed to take the job in the first place— not the way he acted.

“Excuse me?”

“Antigua. The capital. The Federation Weapons Development Board is there. It is redundant to have one here as well as I mentioned. The one in Pyrax was shut down and shifted to the capital some time ago. I suppose we've been lax in that we didn't do that here now. I'll have to contact Admiral Irons and see about arranging the transfer.”

The vice admiral stared at him for a long moment. “That's not necessary.”

“Oh, I think it is. He hates waste. And, since the Federation Senate has been on him about wasteful spending practices, then this is important.”

“I mean, we don't really need to bother him. We can work this out.”

“Oh?”

“Well …”

Full Circle Snippet 4

Sitrep:
So, I've sent Full Circle out to just about all of the proofreaders. I also did the cover today, I just sent it to Wayne to have a look-see. :)

   I've got a lot of kin in the path of the hurricane. If you are in the path, please play it safe and batten down the hatches and get out to a safe place if possible. My gram didn't even know it was coming! They don't have TV at my uncle's house. (she's visiting until the end of the month) We called and warned them last night.

On to the snippet!

Chapter 3

“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” Rear Admiral Brunswick grumbled, scratching an itch on his side.

Horatio looked over to the visiting Neobear. The bear had hopped a return flight on one of the ships that had jumped to Bek B to run a test. It was stated as a consult, which it was. He had left Captain Walengrad in charge of the repair yard while he came over and had a chat with Horatio and Zek and visited his family briefly.

The bear had spent the past six months in Bek A before he'd been sent back to Bek B.

“I take it you ran into a problem?” Zek asked mildly.

“Only the usual bullshit. Politics rearing its ugly head. Some foot dragging going on. Some of it is to do with the courts too,” the bear grumbled as he picked some lint off with his long claws and then flicked it away.

“Ah. Well, you have to give them their due,” Zek replied dryly.

“Right, or they'll take it anyway,” the bear grumbled.

“True,” Zek replied with a brief snort. “What gives?”

“A bit of the same you were dealing with here. Remember how they did the set up in Bek B?”

“I'm a bit fuzzy.”

“Cute. You mean I am,” the bear chuffed. Zek snorted. “Standard practice back in the day was for the yards to update periodically. They'd sell their cast-offs either to a lower start-up or to be recycled. But, sometimes they would pack up the old gear and send it to Bek B.”

“Ah. So, you are what, three generations behind?”

“Something like that. Or, at least we were. Captain Walengrad had a hand in updating us during Childress's mutiny.”

Zek nodded, eyes hooded.

Captain Alice Walengrad had definitely shaken things up in Bek B. The infrastructure and fleet had been updated with a little help from Captain Thistle and her own ingenuity. But, now that Bek A had gotten a kick in the pants from Admiral Irons, the navy had done its best to straighten itself out and get the rebuild and restructuring program going with full steam.

So, Bek B was starting to fall behind.

“Well, some bright-ass paper pusher recognized our good fortune and tried to reverse the flow. I put the kyboshes to that. But now we've got more problems. The new equipment is in short supply as you know.”

Zek nodded. Bek B was now independent, at least on paper. That meant they had their own budget to deal with, though the civilians were still sorting that out. It would most likely take years. “But the old isn't.”

“Right, but only because a lot of contractors and yards tanked. The only reason they backed Childress was because they thought he'd maintain the status quo. Some thought he'd give them first dibs on what tech they would allow. When Irons showed up, that went out the window.”

Zek nodded. A lot of civilian yards and contractors had gone bankrupt during the crash and investigations that had followed. Half of the corporations that had backed Childress had their boards under house arrest or in prison.

Many of them were selling off their old equipment to settle some of their debts. A few might come out of bankruptcy in some semblance of their previous self down the line. But others that worked too close to the margins had been burned and were done for.

Horatio had talked him into taking advantage of it. He'd convinced Admiral Irons to buy up some of the facilities and keep some of the personnel employed. That had been a minor positive bump against a tide of workers suddenly being thrown into an unemployment tailspin. One of the other factors that was handing the current administration such a headache.

In fact, their little brainstorm was getting drawn out in court. Horatio had moved forward to update the yards and retrain the workforce. They had become the nucleus of two new production lines. The workforce had been a showcase for the civilians to follow and imitate.

Not all of the equipment could be rebuilt. Some of it had ended up recycled, but some had been sold. However, with the market the way it was, they'd gotten a pittance as a return. He knew some of the equipment had been bought up by rival yards and even star systems in the outer Federation via the ansible. ETMI and Senka had bought a lot of equipment and were paying to have it stored until they could arrange shipping. Credit exchange debates were still ongoing as well he knew.

And then there were other facilities like the orbital warehouses, factories, and habitats. A habitat was a habitat; it would function as a shelter just fine. The same for an orbital warehouse. They might not be as efficient as a modern one but they could do something about that later.

“So, what's on your mind?”

“I need a line into the new equipment. And we need shipments of parts on our end too. And we need to start modest production facilities there as well.”

Zek nodded slowly. “Okay, I think I can see a few things we can do to help you.”

“A few?”

“The art of compromise, my friend,” Zek said. The bear snorted. “Besides, it gives you the excuse to come over and see us and your family again later.”

“Well, there is that,” the bear chuffed.

“Give me a list, and I'll see what I can do. Do you need people too? We released some of the training requirements, and some of the vocational schools are working-up new programs. I think we've got a few people who you could borrow to train your own workforce on the new gear …”

The bear looked at him and then nodded slowly. “I think I just might appreciate that,” he said.

“Good. Now …”

~~(O)~~

Full Circle Snippet 3

First up, sitrep:
  I just (as in a few minutes ago) finished Folklore. I just sent out a beta blast to the Betas to see who wants to proofread it first. :)
  I'm going to start on the cover this afternoon, after I send Full Circle to Goodlifeguide.com. This may be the last snippet before I publish it. I don't know how busy she is. The last time she finished Liberty or Death in a whopping 4 hours! So, I dunno. We'll see how it goes.

  In other news, I watched that new Tremors movie, or, at least tried to do so. Who the heck thought it would be a good idea to film in the desert and use filters and camera tricks to try to make it look like the arctic? Wow! Stupid!
And horrible bad acting! I had my fill at 20 minutes. I just couldn't go on from there. I dunno who thought that movie was a good idea but they should be fed to their own worms! Preferably 1 piece at a time!

Okay, rant over. Now, on to the snippet!

Chapter 2

“Getting there,” a familiar voice said, breaking the general out of his revere.

“Eh?”

“Sorry, sir. I said we're getting there. One kicking and screaming case at a time,” Captain JG AJ Chedwiggen stated.

“Well, that's true to some degree,” Brigadier General Derek Hirohata stated. “I know some of the junior JAGs want more discretion with plea deals. They may go out with a whimper, and it’s one more case off the docket, but I want senior JAGs to be involved in the triage. Some of the small fry cases are constipating the dockets.”

“And we can use those plea deals and on-record admissions of guilt against the stubborn ones who won't see reason,” AJ agreed with a nod.

“Right,” the general drawled.

The small fish had been hit with lesser charges in the mutiny. Those who actively knew they were disobeying an order were in the thousands. Establishing that in each case was an ongoing process. He was fairly certain the staff involved were getting heartily tired of it.

Most of the disobedience charges were reserved to the higher echelons. They had known better. Those who actively suppressed what they knew to be true from dissemination in exchange for a promotion or other bribe had also been charged as mutineers or conspirators.

NCIS as well as JAG were still being rebuilt, but fortunately, they'd gotten some fresh eyes from the outer Federation as well as agents from Bek B. They'd even borrowed some civilians from Bek A's DOJ to help the process along. But the real help had come in the form of the A.I.

The A.I. had sorted through the electronic databases in minutes. They could testify to the validity of the material and had no interest in the guilt or innocence of the accused.

And then there were people like AJS—stalwart defenders of what they knew was right. People who were stubborn yet flexible. Who had a sense of integrity and honor and a reputation for sticking it out. AJ had made one hell of a prosecutor with his clearly evident, sincere belief in the justness of his cases.

The lesser cases had plead out. Some were awaiting sentencing; they couldn't resolve the case until the government was through with them. They had to wait until the cases they could be called to testify in ended as well.

His problem wasn't just the mutiny and civil war however. Actions taken by either side had to be brought before the courts. The nasty friendly-firing incidents for instance. Those hadn't gone over well with the rank and file but the cases had helped to show that the courts weren't playing favorites.

They were finally getting a handle on the mutiny cases, but they still had two major headaches left. The first was a general housecleaning—one well overdue. Just sorting out the missing evidence, murders, and such was taking up a lot of time with the fragile NCIS.

And then there were the demands for retrials or dismissal from prisoners. Proof that some JAG officers had been biased like the former Captain Arnold Rising Tide had been a black mark on JAG's record. The proof of his complicity in altering records and evidence, plus allowing or even encouraging perjured testimony had put a serious crimp on every case he'd ever had a hand in. The same for the judges involved.

It would ordinarily take years to sort it all out, but the legal A.I.s were a godsend.

The fact that some of the cases were old and that witnesses were missing, evidence was missing, and other factors had forced the team he'd set up to recommend dropping the charges on quite a few cases. He wasn't comfortable with that. Lesser crimes he could deal down, especially if the accused had served out part of their sentence. But they went the extra kilometer when it came to a capital case like rape or murder.

There was another problem cropping up though. Suicides simplified and ended some of the cases but complicated others. Also, some personnel had died during the confusion. Witness and jury tampering charges were everywhere.

He had serious issues with witnesses who had been intimidated or killed. He shook his head, it was a true idiom of the legal system, time passing always favored the defense.

“Problem?” AJ asked.

“I'm just wondering who would want this job. I must have been crazy to have taken it on,” the general growled.

As a system or service TJAG, or just the senior JAG of a system, he not only had to track prosecutions but the manning and resourcing of the defense. Prosecution and Defense command were different with designated defense counsel JAGs who were usually on their second to third tour as experienced JAGs. Since they didn't report to prosecution command, it built trust in the system and avoided the perception that it was a kangaroo court.

“We still don't have any sightings of some of the missing witnesses—those three commanders for instance,” AJ stated.

The general gave him a sour look. “Reading my mind again, AJ?”

“No, that's not my job. I leave that to the ladies in your life,” AJ snorted.

The general snorted again. He'd had some time in the Spec Ops community as well so he'd formed a common bond with AJ.

“Where are we with the major cases?”

“Draken's done as you know. Childress is still trying to run the appeals table. Sung, Callisto, and a couple others have accepted a reduction in rank to captain and have either been dismissed from service or they've taken postings in the outer solar system.”

“Banishment over being thrown out completely,” the general muttered. He shrugged after a moment. “They can take what they can get.”

“Right. We've hit most of the major players. A few are still fighting it in appeals. Given that they were found guilty and we won't accept a deal, they each have the death penalty. We've had one mistrial as you know.”

“And the other cases?”

“We still are looking for bodies. I don't know if we'll ever find that Lieutenant Colonel or exactly what happened to him. NCIS has labeled it a cold case. Some of the other missing have also gone dead. The A.I. can only do so much with the electronic files. Someone scrubbed them with a series of script bots.”

“Two guesses on whom,” the general drawled.

“I know, sir. He's officially listed as dead but I have my suspicions too. Why he'd cover for others I don't know,” AJ stated with a shake of his head.

“The good news is we've got some room for them here and there. But I've got to talk to the DOJ. They seem to be displeased that we're releasing some of the prisoners.”

“Dumping former cons on the planet in a recession, yeah, I can see why,” AJ said with a shake of his head. “They are almost guaranteed to be blacklisted from finding employment. That will mean many will return to crime to support themselves. Not good.”

“Not good,” the general echoed. “But we can't keep them. And I'll be damned if I let them stay in uniform if they've been tainted too badly.”

“Yes, sir. What about the civil suits? Backpay?”

“We're letting the Fed DOJ deal with some of that. For cases that are proven to be malicious prosecution, it's a slam dunk obviously. The others …,” he grimaced. “I know some have the right to be treated as innocent over guilty, but …”

AJ nodded. He'd seen his fair share recently. Some might have been good people but time in the brig had obviously hardened them and turned them into career criminals. A few had committed crimes in prison and were little more than animals.

Those cases were solid. But the cases for them being there in the first place weren't so that was also an ongoing issue.

“Good luck with the DOJ. We'll see you tomorrow, sir?”

“Day after,” the general replied with a shake of his head. “If I'm going down to the planet, I'm not going to get jet lagged in the process and play yo-yo.”

“Yes, sir. I don't blame you in the slightest.”

~~(O)~~

Full Circle Snippet 2

Sitrep:
Okay, I managed to iron out some of my issues with the S4 and got it printing again.
I am 1/2 of 1 story away from finishing Folklore. I'll hopefully get it finished in a day or 2.

On to the snippet!

Still in chapter 1:

Rear Admiral Bolt just thought he had problems. What he had was a mess.

Oh, they'd finally sorted out the initial pipeline of material flowing to the cruisers. He owed the design and help of the A.I., not to mention the funding from the Federation for that. But this new problem was a headache and a half bordering on a migraine.

They had just started production of the carriers. That was where the problems had come in, logistics was still getting a handle on supplying parts from the subcontractors for the new craft designs. They could barely keep up with demand at the assembly plants and someone was complaining that he didn't have parts to stockpile in the ships themselves.

He'd thought that some of the parts were universal. To some degree they were but not always apparently. There were also few replicators on the ships themselves, something Admiral Irons hadn't gotten around to sorting out in his brief visit.

That meant each of the ships had to be finished and fully fitted out at another time. Most likely that meant in the outer Federation—Pyrax no doubt.

But, there was a problem. Buschools was getting a handle on training finally. Admiral Aloysius had gotten with Admiral Ross over in operations to start air wing operations. They wanted to do it off of some of the fortresses and then move over to the carriers in a seamless transfer.

Good on paper but not when you needed to have the parts there on the damn fortress. It was bad enough they couldn't keep up with demand with the carriers, now the idiots wanted to add parts shipped to the fortresses as well? He shook his small head.

Lack of industrial replicators were a problem. When he had been in the star system, Admiral Irons had passed on as many keys to make more as possible. They had done so and were getting updates through the ansible but still lacked the components BUSHIPS needed in quantity. They were just barely keeping up with demand, and he didn't like that. He liked having a buffer. He knew some liked on-call demand for parts but he knew that it took lead time to make the damn widgets and get them to where they were supposed to be. Heaven help them if there was a delay in the process. No, that wasn't supposed to happen.

He shook his head angrily.

The one small bit of good news was that shipping between Bek A and B was picking up again, and shipping to B-102c and by extension to Nuevo and through the rapids was picking up steam. They'd even sent the first personal transports out. The plan was for the transports to move personnel through the rapids and then bring back a load of components that they lacked—things like hyperdrive components, fusion reactors, that sort of thing.

He'd take it. He'd take anything they could get. Now, if they could find a way to extend it to fighters, he'd be in much better shape than he was in at the moment.

Instead, he had to find a way to make omelets without any eggs.

~~(O)~~

Rear Admiral Ben Ross, head of Naval Operations in Bek A, felt like they were finally getting somewhere. Things were settling down. He was fairly confident they'd fully settle into the new routine once all of the trials had concluded.

So far, the worst of them was behind them. Omar Childress’s case had been rather cut and dried. His last-ditch assassination attempt of Admiral Irons had been particularly stupid. His defense had tried to spin it but had failed. He had been found guilty on all counts and had been sentenced to death. His court case had started the appeals process. His lawyers had argued that he'd been pushed over the edge and had a psychotic break. They'd tried everything to point fingers at Irons to no avail. Now they were trying to work the system and pointing to the absences in the Court of Appeals to cause delays or to get their client's case reduced to life in prison.

He shook his head at that. He knew who the case ultimately went to at the moment. There was no way Admiral Irons would spare the man.

The dragon chimera that had preceded him was already gone. He hadn't even tried to appeal his case. “Good riddance to bad rubbish,” he muttered.

Yes, things were returning to normal, but there were still plenty of issues to deal with. One of them was that in returning to normal some political animals were starting to rear their ugly heads again. But his current problem was working with a certain Neoorangutan to get training sorted out.

Specifically, training for the new craft. His idea to break them in and train them on a fortress while waiting for the carriers to get out of Buship's clutches had been nothing short of brilliant, or so he'd thought. He hadn't known someone like Bolt would pitch such a snit. The little Neodog had a point, but he was not amused at having his soap bubble popped so readily.

So much for plan A.

He shook his head and decided to leave the problem alone for a moment. He checked the latest strategic data—so far so good. The front was stalled at the moment. That would only last until the latest round of relief ships got to either side he knew.

It was always better to fight as far from home as possible even though it complicates logistics. Better to fight in someone else's backyard rather than your own. Fighting away from home protected your industry. But that meant fighting forward. He scratched his head. And that meant they needed pilots and crew to do it.

Which brought him back to the training issue. The pilots needed the stick time. Actual stick time, not just sim time in the newly rebuilt pilot training facilities. He knew there were still teething issues with implants and integrating pilots with Artoo units. Most of the old veteran pilots did not like to give up the stick. They were also having a lot of problems adjusting to the new ships and of course the implants.

That was Aloysius's problem of course, him and Paulette over in BUPERS. His problem was finding ways to have the people and ships together when they needed to be together and out training and running down bugs before they were shipped off to go through the rapids.

“Hawk, do we know what the problem is with the logistics? I know Bolt sent a long email, but he's always so damn long winded when he's in a snit.”

Ensign Hawk, his personal A.I., checked the email. “His primary problem is the lack of parts available in the pipeline, not just the lack of craft. There are now sufficient training craft but not enough parts to ship to the carriers as well as the fortress you have in mind, sir,” Hawk stated.

“I thought the parts were universal?”

“Some are. Some aren't. In order for a unit to be declared fit for operation IG has to sign off on things. That means they need the minimum inventory of parts. We're not seeing that. The subs can barely keep up with demand at the moment.”

“It sounds like we need to find more subs.”

“That isn't in my purview, sir. I believe that might be happening at some time. Other subs who survived the recession are trying to find funds to retool.”

“Okay, so, it's a problem. Solutions?”

“You could cut down your original idea. Instead of trying to mount an entire wing start with just a squadron. Baring that, a pair of craft. Build up from there,” the A.I. stated.

Ben nodded. “Good idea. It's far from ideal, but it's a step in the right direction. Okay, let's go with that. Now …”

 

Full Circle Snippet

Okay, here we go!

Act I

 

Chapter 1

 

Rear Admiral Horatio Logan finally felt like they were getting somewhere in Bek. More specifically, in getting the navy sorted out. The civilian side was still a mess, one he didn't even want to have to think about.

Fortunately, he didn't have to deal with that part that much. Just the contractors and subcontractors supplying parts to the yards.

Ten months had passed since Admiral Irons had left. They had begun sending ships to B-102c. As he watched the first ship in the latest production line began its journey. He smiled politely as the yard dogs and assembly cheered the welding of the first components. She was a carrier, a full fleet carrier.

They had a right to cheer; it was hard work. Bek was also limited on starships it could produce. At the moment they were allowed to build heavy cruisers, battle cruisers, escort, light, standard, and fleet carriers and that was it. Many of the ships needed final fitting out and even a minor refit in Pyrax.

He stood behind Admiral Zekowitz and listened politely as Vice Admiral Sharp Reflexes waxed a little bit about how the new production line was a further step forward in bringing Bek back to life.

Life had never left Bek. Despite the recession tearing the economy apart the people were still getting fed, they were still figuring things out. It was just not as rosy as it had once been.

But it would get there again, that he was certain of.

He nodded to Rear Admiral Bolt. The small white Neodog had done his part to make sure they had the parts to feed the new production line. He was pushing to use the civilian subcontractors to supply the navy. At the moment they were supplementing the limited production feed from their industry. He was fairly certain they'd draw in parity with the navy's in-house production at some point. The navy's in-house production would keep prices in check though.

As long as the navy didn't bow to pressure to sell out. Which wouldn't happen with Admiral Irons in overall command. Not again, he reminded himself.

He was weary. He knew it. He saw some of the slackness in his face in the mirror each morning. A lot of him had been burned out in prison. But, he'd gotten through it. He'd survived it. It hadn't been easy, but he'd done it.

Occasional visits to the Sema residence or just a day off helped a little. What he really needed was a long liberty to decompress. He was afraid if he didn't have something to do, something to constantly keep his mind busy though he'd be forced to dwell on what he'd been through with adverse effects to his mood.

But, that was a problem for the future he reminded himself as he applauded with the audience as the Vice Admiral wrapped up his speech.

~~(O)~~

“I'm glad that's over with for another day,” Vice Admiral Sharp Reflexes stated. The male T'clock carrier admiral had taken charge of Bek B during the Childress civil war as some historians were already calling it. He'd kept a lid on the hot heads on his side while putting pressure on Omar to fold.

It hadn't worked but it had led to others like Odette Champion and Yukio Yashido to come over to his side and eventually protect Admiral Irons during his timely arrival.

“Yes sir,” Rear Admiral Ben Ross, his head of Operations stated with a nod.

“How are we with things?” the admiral asked. “Are you getting anywhere with carrier ops?”

Ben loosened his collar as he took his customary seat. “So far so good,” he said, glad they'd gotten out of the reception. “Training is an ongoing issue,” he said, looking over to Rear Admiral Aloysius.

The Neoorangutan's large lips made a puttering sound. “You are telling me! The good news is, the sleep teaching is helping a lot. And we've gotten a handle on most of the basic training. We already knew most of it, it's just a matter of getting up to speed on the new hardware and learning the new tactics that go with them.”

The T'clock bobbed his antenna in assent at what he already knew.

“We do have some problems but we're trying to work it out.”

“Try?”

“We will work them out sir,” the ape amended.

“Right,” the T'clock stated firmly, turning his heart shaped head to the head of ONI.

Rear Admiral Yukio Yashido grimaced as he pointed both antennas at her. “Cleaning house is still an ongoing effort. Downsizing is also an issue. We are making some headway by shipping some people to the outer Federation or retiring them.”

Ben nodded slightly.

“The biggest issue I've got is some people think they can now slip back into the business as usual mode. The old method of scratching each other's backs and such,” she said with a grimace.

“Not going to happen,” the T'clock growled. “We need people to settle in but I don't like the idea of them getting that comfortable.”

“We're still working on it sir.”

“Make sure you cover everything,” Ben stated.

“Oh, we are. I'm handing most of it over to NCIS and JAG,” she stated with a nod to General Hirohata.

“We're still dealing with the worst of the Childress civil war. But we're getting there,” the General stated. “We have had issues with new cases coming up.”

“Oh? You mean like what...” Ben paused when the General shook his head. “Then what?”

“We were hit with appeals from previous cases. Since there are issues with some of the cases using tainted methods and many of the former NCIS agents and JAGs involved are now in prison, we've had to go over the cases. Some have been reduced or dismissed. It is an ongoing mess.”

“So I heard from your emails,” Admiral Sharp Reflexes stated dryly. “Do your best.”

“We are sir. The outsiders Admiral Irons has brought has helped. No one can accuse them of being biased or tainted,” he stated.

“Good to know.”

“And the A.I. have helped immensely. They've sifted through the electronic evidence rather quickly. It has cleared up a lot of incongruities for us,” the TJAG stated.

“Good.”

Ben nodded but he could see Rear Admiral Paulette Fournier the Neochimp head of BuPers grimace slightly at the reference. She should know better but he didn't say anything.

“When can we see the next production line set up, Zek?” Paulette asked, turning to Vice Admiral Melvin Zekowitz, the head of BuShips.

“We're working on it. We're still retooling the lines we bought,” he stated.

“Well, I've got a lot of people ready to man those ships when you have them ready,” she stated. “We're shipping some out to the outer Federation but I'd like to see some of them held here,” she stated. “We need a new core to build around.”

“Understood. As I said, we're working on it,” Zek replied neutrally.

“Okay, since that's covered, I understand Admiral Nilsson has a pitch about more training exercises she wants to try. That's why I asked Hilda to be here with us. Hilda? The floor is yours.”

“Thank you, sir,” Hilda stated. “I've been working closely with Ben and Paulette. What I'd like to do is to use the ships recently refitted and run our people through a series of fleet training exercises using the latest doctrine we've gotten from the war-front...”

~~(O)~~

Diorama and Full Circle

Sitrep:
Okay, it's been a month with Liberty or Death up, and since sales have slumped back down I'll finally move on to Full Circle.

First up, sitrep: I finished my StarCraft diorama. I have a couple of crappy photos with my phone. My brother-in-law said he'd get better shots with his camera sometime in the future. (most likely Thanksgiving) Here is what I've got:

   Yes, the crystals and the Protoss pylon light up. There is also an LED under the zealot lighting him up as if he's teleporting in.
I considered adding lightning to Artanis but decided it was busy enough so passed on it.
  The skeleton is made out of bits from the T-rex and halo skull I printed that didn't print right or had issues. Most of the StarCraft models are from Thingiverse. The exceptions are the Zerglings. Those I modeled years ago. My youngest nephew was awestruck by it. :)
  I'm glad I got it done. I've been dithering over it for 18 months. So, that's 1 big project scratched off my to-do list. (and I added 4 new ones! I guess I'm glutting for punishment. lol)

   In other news, I was having so many problems with my Da Vinci printers (the Pro's heated bed died again, and the 1.0 has cold spot issues and clogs half the time) that I broke down and splurged on a CR10S-4. I agonized over the delivery, Gearsbest.com sucks about that. (US-to-US usually doesn't start in Hong Kong! and 8-30 days for delivery??) It is here though and it is currently printing a part of a massive project, my most ambitious to date. (1 part of over 1,000 or so. I started it in July, I'm less than 10% done. So it is going to be a while before that's done! I also have no clue where I'm going to stick it when I'm done. I'll worry about that later)
  I found out the hard way that contrary to their claims, the CR-10 can't print with ABS or other high temperature materials with it. (I doubt it can print Ninjaflex since they switched to a Bowden style extruder set up like my Da Vinci Pro. That stuff also needs a hot bed and nozzle) The heated bed just can't get up to the right temperature. Period. It takes 1 hour to get to 70c. It took 4 agonizing hours to get to 75c. (I was shooting for the normal 90c for ABS and gave up at that point)
FYI: It takes my Da Vinci's 15 minutes to head up. (when they cooperate) Of course their bed size is 1/2 the S4's in size, and they are enclosed.
  A check of Youtube showed me an enclosure would help a little in heat up speed and heat retention but not enough to get the job done. (A little more research on my part would have made me realize that ahead of time) GRR. so, I've got 16+kilograms of cheap ABS I can't use at the moment. I also have to print in PLA which I hate. The stuff doesn't like to stick to the bed even with a ton of glue. (Sorry Angus at MakersMuse but yeah, a skim coat doesn't work for me at all) I had to go to Amazon and buy 3 more kilograms of PLA. Even with that much I know I'll have to buy more in a week or 2.
(checking...the current print is already lifting off the bed. Even though I've got glue and the bed is at 70c. I had to tape it down to keep it from moving)
  I can't use hot acetone to treat the PLA to smooth it either. It laughs at acetone. Sigh.

  I also learned I can't print trays well. I had the idea in my head of printing 12+ items on the bed at the same time to save on cycling up and down. Well, if you try to print more than 4 you get layer separation and other nasty issues. It can't get around to each piece in time before the plastic cools off too much. (an enclosure might help there)

   The cool thing is once I figure it out I can print even bigger stuff (which I am currently doing). Even cosplay stuff. (Which my niece, nephew, and their friends will love) Complete helmets, bits, and such. I can even print that StarCraft battlecruiser I wanted and drooled over, or even my own ships and fighters... Muwhahaha...

   In other news: I have been fighting sinus headaches due to the fans and weather and fighting other minor health issues but I've managed to get 6 out of 9/10 stories for the next book, The New Federation Short Stories book 3 Folklore done. (yes, I added another book to my schedule for this year. You're welcome) I am passing the stories to some of the betas as I finish each in turn. I'm limiting the page count to 200-250 pages for this as well as Multiverse 4 which is next. More on all of that later.

  Now that August (and all the birthdays) is over, and everyone is back to school, (interruption: dancing a jig) I will hopefully be able to get back into writing mode easier. I'm writing short stories for the rest of the year so I can get some other projects done and have some free time. I've been told I need to reduce my workload. (which won't work, I'll just add more stuff to do)

   Another thing: I worked on the torpedo project. I roughed out the innards of a standard Federation torpedo from a set of free greeble packs I got off Artstation and gumdrop. I also worked on a bomber to launch the torpedo since I eventually want to do some key frames and maybe an animation of it in action. (to do that I need another PC to render it so I can continue to use this one!)

I took one of CGpitbull's bombers, took off the wing guns and then played with the polygons to get something more along the lines of what I had in mind. It is still rough, but you get the general idea.

No, that isn't the Mitchelle bomber if that is what you are wondering. I'll get around to making one eventually. I may have to make it from scratch or greeble packs. I still haven't finished the Cutlass fighter come to think of it.
Eventually Wayne or Ransom will post the torpedo and other stuff on the wiki. (nag them on the FB group not me! I'm busy! They'll nag me in turn.)

  And finally, I did the cover for Full Circle at the beginning of last month, right around the time I published Liberty or Death:

  Yes that is Admiral Horatio Logan in the foreground. Yes that is a Neodog. There was a Neogorilla in the background but I had to get rid of her due to a shadow issue. Pretty simple cover, all the stuff came from Daz I believe. The fur on the dog was in Cinema.
Full Circle goes to Rea later today, so expect it by the middle or end of this month.

  That's it for now! I will try to post a snippet of Full Circle tomorrow (if it doesn't get too crazy since I'm getting a new dishwasher!) sometime or later in the week.